Chapter 2: As care needs increase
Managing stress and anxiety
It creates anxiety when you’re “on” all the time and have to be hypervigilant. You’re so tired; it’s terribly tiring.
While caregiving can be a rewarding experience, it can also affect the caregiver’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Everyone feels stressed sometimes, but long or intense periods of stress can be extremely hard on your physical and mental health.
You may feel different levels of stress throughout the caregiving experience, and stress may increase as the person’s illness progresses.
Assess Your Stress Quiz
Click here to view a list of questions to help you check your level of stress. Your answers may change and be different on different days, so come back to this module to re-answer the questions.
What may help
Everyone deals with anxiety and stress in their own way. Click below for some strategies you might try.Anxiety can be a normal response to dealing with serious illness. Understanding the source of your anxiety can be a helpful first step toward decreasing it. What are you concerned about? Is it immediate, or can you take some time to plan and prepare? Is it within your control, or is it something you may need to adapt to or manage?
Seeking emotional support from trusted family and friends is important. You may not be comfortable sharing your feelings, thoughts, and fears with others, especially if you feel you want to “protect them.” However, people often say that being able to talk openly makes a difference.
Relaxation strategies can help you shift your attention to the present and use your body’s natural ability to calm itself. *For detailed information on relaxation strategies, please refer to the Relaxation strategies PDF below.
Helpful resources
