3 Essential Caregiver Stress Relief Tips That Really Work

While there’s no way around the fact that caregiving can be stressful, stress reduction and management techniques can make a big difference in preventing burnout and improving caregiver physical and mental health.

Positive self-talk, emergency stress stoppers, and go-to stress-busting activities can be powerful techniques to stop the cycle of negative thoughts and improve caregiver mood.

1. Focus on positive self-talk. You can allow the voice in your head to speak either positively or negatively to yourself. If you allow negative self-talk to take over, you’ll become miserable and more stressed out. If you’re able to let positive self-talk win, you’ll begin to calm down and feel better about yourself and your situation.

Positive self-talk doesn’t mean you deny the reality of your circumstances, or that you pretend everything is going well. It just means you take control of your thought processes to prevent yourself from going down a negative rabbit trail that will only increase your misery and stress levels. You can learn how to shift negative thinking to positive thinking with practice. Here are some examples of how this works:

• I can’t do this –> I’ll do the best I can. I’ve got this.
• Everything is going wrong. –> I can handle this if I take one step at a time.
• I hate it when this happens. –> I know how to deal with this; I’ve done it before.
• I feel helpless and alone. –> I can reach out and get help if I need it.
• I can’t believe I screwed up. –> I’m human, and we all make mistakes. I can fix it.

2. Use emergency stress-stoppers. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, stress starts to take over our bodies and minds. When this happens, stop stress in its tracks quickly with these intentional interventions:

• Take slow, deep breaths until you feel your body start to relax.
• Turn on relaxing or inspiring music, which will calm your emotions.
• Walk away from the situation for a while. Once things have calmed down, you can come back and try handling it again.
• Break down big problems into smaller parts. Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, take one step at a time.
• Go for a walk, even if it’s just to the restroom. This gives you a chance to clear your head, think things through, and break the tension.
• Work out or do something active. Exercise is a great stress-buster.

3. Break the negative cycle with stress-busting activities. You can tell when stress is starting to get the best of you. Before you start spiraling, switch things up by trying an activity that you enjoy. This works even if you only have 10-15 minutes. These enjoyable ideas can help you to switch gears and quickly refocus your energy:

• Take a walk, run, or bike ride outside to enjoy nature.
• Read a book or magazine.
• Meditate or practice yoga.
• Watch YouTube videos.
• Work on a photo album or scrapbook to focus on good memories.
• Drink herbal tea.
• Work in the garden or do a home improvement project.
• Meet a friend for coffee or a meal.

Try these techniques to take your stress level down a notch as a caregiver. For more caregiver stress relief tips, click here. For more information, read this helpful article by the American Heart Association.