5 Tips for Keeping Your Brain Healthy While Caregiving
Many of us cope with the stress of caring for someone who has dementia. We agonize over the increasing losses that our loved one faces as dementia works its way through their brains. We also worry about ourselves. Will we, too, end our lives without recognizing the people we love? What, if anything, can we do to protect our own brains?
With this question in mind, I asked two brain experts for their input on how caregivers can practice self-care and reduce worry about their health—specifically their brain health.
What’s good for the heart is good for the brain: First, I questioned Benjamin T. Mast, Ph.D., ABPP, who is a Board Certified Geropsychologist, for his thoughts. Dr. Mast is Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. He offers these suggestions:
“Caregivers hoping to maintain brain health can focus on both behavioral and medical health,” Dr. Mast says. “From a medical perspective, what is good for the heart is good for the brain. Maintaining good cardiovascular health is critical to brain health.
“Eating a heart-healthy diet, and engaging in regular exercise and physical activity are basic steps that can be taken. Caregivers with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease should follow the treatment regimens offered by their physicians. Poor management of these medical conditions puts the brain and cognition at risk.
“From a behavioral perspective, staying cognitively and socially engaged are also associated with brain health. Caregivers should find cognitively stimulating activities that they enjoy. Not everyone needs to do crossword puzzles and Sudoku, especially if they don’t enjoy them. Finding activities that you enjoy and keep you mentally active is a much better bet.”
Can caregiving give you dementia? I also asked Dr. Mast about a common concern we caregivers face—the worry that our brains are “going” and wondering if it’s early dementia or simply stress. His response was comforting:
“Many times people will experience forgetfulness and mental ‘fogginess’ simply because they are feeling very stressed, overwhelmed and are keeping track of too many things at once,” he said. “For these caregivers, the recommendation, in addition to those above, would be to find ways to lower stress and reduce multitasking. This is obviously a major challenge for family caregivers who carry both high levels of stress…
Continue reading on Agingcare for more about keeping our brains healthy while caregiving:
Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories. “For anyone having to walk the last segments of life with a loved one, read this.” …Delores
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