{"id":3395,"date":"2015-02-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/preventing-and-treating-dementia-caregiver-burnout\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T20:47:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:47:45","slug":"preventing-and-treating-dementia-caregiver-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/preventing-and-treating-dementia-caregiver-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing and Treating Dementia Caregiver Burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scope of the issue: In 2014 five million people in the United States had Alzheimer\u2019s disease. By 2050 the number of people living with Alzheimer\u2019s disease is expected to approach 16 million.<\/p>\n

According to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association in 2013 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care was given in the U.S to people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other dementias.<\/p>\n

Caregiver stress causes havoc in people\u2019s lives and is responsible for lost wages and productivity.<\/p>\n

The rate of burnout, the development of depression and other health problems occur the longer someone is providing care.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips to help you care for yourself while you care for your loved one:<\/p>\n

Acknowledge that this is hard work Caregivers are like other hard workers in that they ignore themselves to get the job done. Unlike working outside of the home they don\u2019t often get to leave \u201cthe office\u201d at the end of the day. They are exhausted and they just keep going without giving themselves permission to stop and acknowledge their own hard work.<\/p>\n

In 2014 there were 65.7 million of you, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance.<\/p>\n

Acknowledge that you are not alone and you are doing the best you can. \u2022 Ground yourself As you know, caregiving takes you outside of yourself. It\u2019s easy to ignore your own body when you are involved in taking care of someone else. Here are two grounding techniques.<\/p>\n

Take a deep breath in and out, as your loved one is calling you over and over again. Take a breath in for 4 seconds. Imagine the breath coming into your feet and up through the top of your head. Hold it for 8 seconds and let the cleansing breath relax the stressed areas of your body. Exhale for 8 seconds and let the stress melt away. Repeat often.<\/p>\n

Look around and feel your feet on the ground. Feel the earth supporting you. Repeat often.<\/p>\n

Anything that can bring you back to yourself is helpful. \u2022 Treat yourself as often as you can Caregivers often feel neglected themselves. You need to refuel yourself in order to take care of someone else effectively. Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n

Take a hot bath, give yourself a hand massage, take a walk, call a friend, put headphones on and listen to music, meditate, exercise, go to the gym, go running, lift weights, do Tai Chi or yoga, think about what you love or used to love and do it.<\/p>\n

You will have more energy to care for your loved one and you\u2019ll be a happier person. \u2022 Know that this won\u2019t last forever The saying that all good things come to an end is true for this difficult time as well. \u2022 Finding common ground Think about what can you do together that would be meaningful and give you good memories. Some examples are looking at old photographs, hearing old family stories (if your loved one is verbal), singing (many people with dementia can sing even if they do not speak), enjoy listening to music together, or watching a favorite television show. \u2022 Get help Reach out to friends, family, neighbors, or clergy. Find a support group, therapist, or call a crisis center. Some physician\u2019s offices have social workers. Your local hospital may have a community outreach or education center. Call your local Alzheimer\u2019s Association or any resource you can find.<\/p>\n

Remember that you are not alone. Reach out. You\u2019ll be glad you did.<\/p>\n

I hope these suggestions help you maintain your own mental and physical health while you navigate the rough caregiving terrain.<\/p>\n

Dr. Wendi Lovenvirth<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My article gives practical tips for caregivers of dementia patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[920],"class_list":["post-3395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-care-for-the-caregiver-nurturing"],"authors":[{"term_id":920,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"wendi-lovenvirth","display_name":"Dr. Wendi Lovenvirth","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3395"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4718,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions\/4718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}