Sharon Palmer, RDN
Sharon Palmer, RDN, MSFS, registered dietitian nutritionist based in Ojai, California, and author of several books, including her latest, The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat Diabetes. SharonPalmer.com
If you are the primary caregiver for a loved one with cancer, dementia, stroke damage or some other serious illness or disability, you naturally want to do everything you can for that person. But it’s critically important that you not forget the other person who needs your attention just as desperately—you.
The reason: Half of primary caregivers suffer at least as much stress, loneliness and clinical depression as the ill loved ones they’re caring for. Even worse, compared with non-caregivers, primary caregivers have a 63% higher risk of dying!
But it is possible to take care of yourself while taking care of someone else—and we’ve consulted top psychiatrists, oncologists, gerontologists, integrative health practitioners and other experts to help you do it. For instance, here is a road map for coping with the eight stages of caregiving…a unique way to communicate with a person who has dementia by tapping into a kind of “memory” these patients never lose…a simple massage technique that will ease your loved one’s pain and anxiety and make you feel good, too…a surprising do-it-together “therapy” from your own kitchen…and a wealth of other ways to help both you and your loved one be healthier and happier.
How to Make Caregiving Much Easier
Caregivers: Protect Your Own Health While Giving the Best Possible Care to a Loved One
Passages of Caregiving and the Strategies for Coping
Supporting Partners of Cancer Patients
How to Hire a Home Health Aide
Finally…There’s a Way to Connect with a Loved One Who Has Dementia
Caregiving When a Loved One Has Dementia
Kirtan Kriya Meditation: 12-Minute Brain Boost for Stressed-Out People