Alleviate caregiving stress with humor!
We’ve all experienced “one of those days” – you’ve overslept and missed an important meeting, the coffee maker picked today to stop working, you tripped over the coffee table, dropping your phone and shattering the screen, and to make it even worse, you feel a cold coming on; and it’s barely 8 a.m.!
For family members who are caregiving for a senior loved one, each and every day can feel jam-packed with this same degree of stress. At Morning Glory Home Care, we understand! Worries about ensuring your loved one is comfortable, safe, and healthy add to the stress of how to perform all of the day’s to-dos, and the last thing on a caregiver’s mind is probably a hearty belly laugh. However, that may actually be just what the doctor ordered to lower stress and enable you to once again discover the joy and benefits of providing care for your loved one.
As a matter of fact, the benefits of laughter to both our mental and physical health are tremendous and well documented, such as:
- Boosting our immunity
- Minimizing our levels of stress hormones
- Helping lower pain
- Enhancing the heart’s functionality and decreasing heart attack risk
- Releasing endorphins that promote stress reduction for nearly an hour
- And even elevating our chance of living longer!
Of course, we’re not recommending taking serious problems lightly, or laughing at your senior loved one. The key is in uncovering humor in the everyday moments you face, and then sharing laughter together. Following are a few ideas from our experts in Alton senior care to get the ball rolling:
- Plan an evening of comedy. Find a classic comical movie your family has enjoyed in the past, or a taping of a stand-up comedian, grab some snacks, sit back and enjoy the show.
- Search online for jokes, funny stories, and one-liners, and compile a list of those that are particularly funny. Set aside specific points during the course of the day as “joke time,” drop whatever chore or task you’re doing at those selected times, and take a quick joke break.
- Spend time with children. Kids are inherently cheerful, and merely being around them as they play will without a doubt lead to boundless possibilities for laughter.
- Make time to reminisce over favorite funny stories from the past. Pulling out photos or old home movies is a wonderful way to spark favorite memories.
- Break out of the everyday routine. It’s easy to get stuck in a routine of busyness with chores and then crashing in front of the television. Arrange for an outing to try something out of the ordinary with your senior loved one and simply enjoy quality time together.
Morning Glory Home Care is always at hand to help ease stress in a variety of ways. Allow us to assist with housework, laundry, preparing meals, running errands and more, and rediscover the enjoyment of having fun with your senior loved one! At Morning Glory Home Care, Alton senior care providers for the surrounding areas, we’re here with as much or as little assistance as needed to improve quality of life for both your senior loved one and yourself. Contact us at 618-667-8400 to learn more!