Caregiver Resolutions for the New Year

Caregivers often face the daunting balancing act of selflessly caring for their loved one with dementia while still managing their own busy lives. Taking time to recharge may seem like a lofty goal, but small changes like setting a consistent sleep schedule or starting a creative hobby can allow you to reconnect with yourself outside of your caregiving role and practice self-care.

Here are resolutions for the new year that you can actually stick to — not trendy aspirations but science-backed steps that can reduce stress and improve your everyday life.

Set a consistent sleep schedule

Your circadian rhythm — your body’s internal clock — thrives on consistency. 94 percent of dementia caregivers are sleep deprived, and this lack of sleep is linked to weakened immunity, increased stress, increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes.

Building a predictable sleep-wake schedule can leave you feeling refreshed and more productive. Research shows that the brain’s glymphatic system largely operates when people are in deep sleep, and acts to get rid of toxic proteins and buildup of beta-amyloid, and cycle nutrients through the brain.

Daniel Gartenberg, PhD, founder of SleepSpace, offers tips on how to improve your sleep. “Having a regular schedule and getting sunlight exposure in the morning is something really easy you can do,” he said. “Research also suggests having an elevated temperature throughout the day — whether it’s through exercise or going into a sauna, helps — it can make you have more deep sleep.”

Gartenberg also recommends paying attention to your nighttime sound environment, making sure it’s quiet, cool and dark when you’re sleeping.

In the winter months when the sun rises later in the morning, alarm clocks like the Hatch Sunrise Alarm Clock and Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light can gently support your natural circadian rhythms.

If you find yourself laying in bed but unable to fall asleep, experts recommend trying to relax yourself by reading a comforting book or listening to music until you start to feel tired. Resist reaching for your phone because the bright light could further impair your ability to fall asleep.

Start cognitive behavioral therapy

Depression is one of the most common disorders worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people, and caregivers are more than twice as likely to develop depression. Studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be an effective tool to manage depression. CBT is a psycho-social intervention focused on acknowledging and changing unhelpful cognitive behaviors like repetitive negative thoughts and improving emotional regulation. 

Even if you aren’t experiencing symptoms of depression, speaking to a therapist or other mental health professional can also help you learn new tools to cope with stressful situations that can arise during caregiving and give you the space to voice your experiences to a trusted third-party. 

Mental health conditions like depression are treatable and often only experienced temporarily. A recent study found that many people not only recover after their mental health symptoms are treated but can continue to excel and thrive in life afterward.

Ask for caregiving help

Caregiving tasks can sometimes fall on one person, and many caregivers are reluctant to ask for help. In reality, taking a caregiving break to recharge for a few days can be one of the best things you can do as a caregiver for both yourself and your loved one. Practice advocating for yourself by notifying your family and friends when you start to feel symptoms of burnout. 

Dementia caregiving expert Teepa Snow offers guidance on how to build your caregiving “dream team.” A caregiving team should have at least one person who can act as support for your loved one, and another person who can act as support for the caregiver.  

“There should be at least two other human beings,” said Snow. “I may actually need a group of people around me, because I need multiple people to bounce things off of.”

Think strategically about the gaps in your current caregiving plan and who in your community is knowledgeable about those areas. If you don’t have experience with estate planning and legal obligations, ask for help from someone in your community who knows these areas well or hire an outside professional.

If you don’t know where to start, ask for help with small tasks like picking up prescriptions, cooking one meal a week, assisting with laundry, or dropping off your loved one occasionally at their doctor’s appointments.

Build a creative practice

Set an intention for the New Year to find a creative hobby that you can stick with. If you know that carving out time on your own isn’t realistic, stay motivated by practicing it in a group setting. Joining a weekly or monthly pottery, dance, painting, or yoga class can help you practice your hobby more consistently and offer additional mental health benefits from socializing with others. 

Creative practices can also serve as meaningful coping tools to alleviate stress and support emotional regulation. Prolonged stress can lead to inflammation, which can accelerate cognitive decline and contribute to other health conditions.  

Caregiving can be an isolating and lonely experience, so it helps to find partners when you can. Joanna Anderson and Sue Nicolaidis, childhood friends who rekindled their friendship after becoming caregivers, launched a podcast about caregiving that helped foster community with others who could relate.

Anderson writes: “Turning something so heartbreaking into something that helps others is something our moms, Janet and Johnnie, would be incredibly proud of.”