Ahhhh.. It’s About Keeping the Caregiving

On today’s edition of Your Caregiving Journey, we spoke to Stephanie Brown, a University of Michigan researcher, whose work resulted in an interesting conclusion: Caregiving can lengthen your life.

The premise behind the research was: If volunteer work is good for you, does caregiving offer the same health benefits?

I had my doubts going into our discussion (which you can listen to via the player, below) until I had my “ah-ha” moment.

The study is all about keeping the caregiving.

We know caregiving is stressful, worrisome, lonely, heart-breaking and just down-right sad. But, with the focus on the stress, we lose sight of the blessings: That helping someone who needs our help does really help us.

More importantly, the study shines a light on the true value of caregiving role. The researchers hope that these research results will help policymakers create helpful programs and services for family caregivers. During our interview, Stephanie said they want to avoid removing the family caregiver from a caregiving situation because of the perceived assumption that the role is detrimental.

And, that’s what led me to my ah-ha moment. Often times, health care professionals will hear family caregivers say how tired, overwhelmed and anxious they are. And, health care professionals will say: You need to take a break. Or a family member may say, This is too much for you. You can’t do this any longer.

Sometimes, a break from caregiving is needed. And, sometimes, what’s needed is just some help so you can keep caregiving. You are the best judge of just which help you need. Because, often, what helps you most is what helps you focus on what regularly becomes your greatest priority: caregiving.

Related articles

• Well… They Say It Lengthens Your Life
• Your Truth and The Team: Telling Your Truth So You Can Find Your Team
• The Caregiving Years: Six Stages to a Meaningful Journey

Tags: self-care, stress