Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day aren’t the only holidays in February. Did you know that February also is American Heart Month? That means it’s an important month to improve your heart health.
If you’re a caregiver for an aging and/or sick family member, it can be easy to neglect your heart health. However, it’s even more important to keep your ticker strong as you care for your loved one, other family and friends, and, of course, yourself.
In honor of American Heart Month, we share a few heart-healthy tips especially for caregivers:
- Set aside some time for yourself every day. Even if it’s just 15 minutes or a half hour, use the time to do something you enjoy. Stress management can affect our heart health, so make sure you use your “me” time to keep stress at a reasonable level.
- Get organized. Even if you don’t think of yourself as an organizational whiz, work with a trusted family member or friend to organize your aging loved one’s appointments on a calendar or to have all of their paperwork in one place, so everything is easy to find. It’ll save you time in the long run. Plus, better organization equals less stress—which means less burden on your heart.
- Do your best to eat right. If you’re on the go helping an aging loved one—and if you also have other children or family members who rely on you—we bet you’re often strapped for meal prep time. Instead of making the local fast food drive thru your best friend, do your best to find healthy, easy options to nourish yourself. Healthy eating keeps your heart running strong. If you’re completely time-strapped, here’s a guide to the healthiest things to order from popular fast food restaurants.
- Have a caregiving back-up plan. It’s easy to feel trapped by your obligations, and that can only lead to feeling more stress. As you already know, stress is bad for your heart. Women in particular find themselves overwhelmed by caregiving obligations, and that can have poor health consequences in the long run. To better manage this potential landmine, make a plan now for a back-up caregiver, whether it’s someone you use in case of an emergency or someone who can provide relief on a regular basis so you get a break. Secure Aging knows many of the caregivers in the area and can provide quality recommendations to help you breathe a sigh of relief.
- Set up those doctors’ appointments—for you. You’re probably used to taking your loved one to the doctor, but you need regular check ups as well! If you haven’t had a physical or regular dentist check up in a while, get those preventive appointments on the calendar asap.
Call Secure Aging to Find Out How We Can Help Seniors With Care Management
At Secure Aging, we transform the weight of the world into a sigh of relief for our senior clients and their concerned family members. The mission of Secure Aging is to protect and preserve our client’s independence and dignity through careful and thoughtful financial and care management. As our clients age, it is their desire to remain independent and age with dignity. Our services protect our clients from talented con artists looking to exploit and deplete the financial resources of our vulnerable seniors. Call us at 941-761-9338, or visit us online at www.secureaging.com.
