Making Sure You Get Enough Sleep

While Caring for Your Senior As a family caregiver, you have a busy and challenging schedule. This is particularly true if you are in the sandwich generation and caring for your children as well as your aging adult. Needing to balance your senior care efforts, taking care of your children, managing your career, taking care of your household, and maintaining your marriage can all add up to feeling as though there’s never enough time in the day to complete everything you need to do. This might result in you not getting enough sleep, which can be detrimental to your health and well-being. Making sure you get enough sleep while caring for your parent is a vital step in protecting your health, maintaining your emotional and mental well-being, and ensuring you continue to give your parents the care that is right for them.

Use these tips to make sure you get enough sleep while caring for your senior:

• Know your limits and don’t try to push yourself more than you know you can handle
• Set a sleep schedule for yourself and avoid planning anything that would disrupt this schedule, such as activities or obligations in the late evening or early morning
• Be willing to accept help that will let you maintain this sleep schedule or let you get more done during the day so you have more time to relax and get better sleep. This might mean someone who is willing to sit with your parent in the evening if you have a long drive home or a carpool for your children to or from school
• Avoid using stimulants such as caffeine within three hours of your bedtime
• Schedule time off for yourself to do things that are relaxing, and follow through with this regularly. Even one hour a week of time just to relax can help to relieve anxiety and depression that makes it harder to sleep
• Consider making senior care a part of your parent’s regular care. This can give you more flexibility in your schedule, allow you to handle tasks more easily, and provide care at night if your parent needs it so you can feel at ease and get more sleep

Taking care of yourself is critical when you are a family caregiver. One of the best ways you can make sure you are able to do this is by having senior care as a part of your care approach for your aging parent.

A senior home care services provider can step in when it’s right for your parent and for you to ensure your loved one gets the necessary care and support while you focus on your own needs. This means giving you more time to handle other obligations in your life, less stress and anxiety, and the opportunity to get the relaxation and sleep necessary. Keeping yourself healthy and functioning is the best quality caregiver you can be for your loved one, as well as for the others who rely on you.

If you are considering senior care in Hamden, CT for your aging parent, please contact the caring staff at Franciscan Ever There Care. Call today 203-630-2881.