Category: News

Be There 4 Seniors and the Georgia Gerontology Society sponsored Senior Week at the Georgia State Capitol!

InterMed Home Care supported seniors under the gold dome of our Capitol by introducing a variety of home care options.

House Representatives were also eager to stop by and support our seniors. During a full day of legislative duties, they took time to get a quick blood pressure and blood glucose level check. Given their busy schedules lawmakers very appreciative of our health check booth.

We often think that stress in our life, whether related to work or caring for a sick loved one, is bad for us. Yet it is how we view our own stress that determines how it affects us, says Stanford psychologist Kelly McGonigal. Stress can, in fact, be positive and help us lead more meaningful lives, according to new research highlighted in McGonigal’s new book, “The Upside of Stress”. What are the strategies for dealing with stress and how can caregivers use them each day?

Today, more and more people experience the stress of caring for their sick loved ones or clients. Indeed, caregiving requires tremendous amounts of patience, compassion, and the ability to place the needs of another person first. But the task need not overwhelm us if we know a few strategies for using stress to our benefit.

The first step, according to Dr. McGonigal, is to not deny the presence of stress in our daily lives but to find meaning in it. Spend a minute each day recording on your phone one positive or uplifting thing you did as a caregiver that day. A study of caregivers with depression found that making such daily recordings relieved their clinical depression, says Dr. McGonigal. By finding meaning in our stressful work, we can learn to embrace the stress in our lives.

We are used to thinking that stress is harmful to our body, but it can also be very helpful. When we face an extreme situation, such as seeing an elderly person falling down, our body immediately responds to the stress with extra adrenaline. This adrenaline allows us to move quickly and efficiently to help the person before it is too late.

Stress also pushes us out of our comfort zone. If you feel stressed by caring for your loved one or client, there is no need to cope alone. In fact, it is much more productive to seek out social connections and support. Tend and befriend those around you, studies suggest. People who are socially engaged, who provide and receive support from others, are more resilient and more healthy in the long run. Indeed, the most harmful stressor is feeling isolated and alone.

There is no way to avoid stress completely. It is a natural part of life, whenever we experience anything new in our environment. Perhaps, then, rather than attempting to eliminate stress, we can use it as fuel to accomplish more. People who report having high levels of stress in their lives also tend to view their lives as more meaningful, says McGonigal. “A meaningful life can be stressful.”