Tips for Managing Stress

Being someone's primary caregiver can mean putting a lot of additional stress on your life. Family caregivers are shown to have increased risk for depression and other physical health issues. Look for ways to manage your stress level so you can remain healthy and be the best caregiver you can be. Here are a few online resources with helpful stress management suggestions.

1. The American Psychological Association Stress Tip Sheet doesn't provide you with ideas for how to manage stress, but it does state a couple obvious tips that can be overlooked. Before you can fight your stress, you need to know your stressors and stress signals. Knowing these in advance gives you a little preemptive strike before you become overwhelmed.

2. The American Heart Association has a wonderful list of healthy habits to help fight stress. Maybe you can't fit all of them into your day, but applying just one or two could be just what you need to make the day a little easier. Simple ones to incorporate include numbers 3 and 4--accept what you cannot change and remember to laugh. Add more laughter into your day by hanging funny comic strips on the fridge or a funny Internet meme to your bathroom mirror.

3. The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine shares some benefits of eliciting your body's relaxation response. The relaxation response counterbalances your internal stress response. "The relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress..." (Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine). They offer two main steps for the relaxation response and some additional suggestions.

Compiled by Carrie Bui, Communications Specialist