Easing Caregiver Stress with a Gym Membership

Caregivers in Concord, NC

Being a caregiver for your elderly loved ones can be extraordinarily stressful, especially if you are one of the millions who are in the sandwich generation. Being in this generation means that you are not just taking care of your senior parents, but also raising your own children. All the while you are likely also keeping up with a career, managing your household, and nurturing your marriage. Trying to balance all of this in your life can add up to a tremendous amount of stress. In fact, around 53 percent of those who are in a caregiver relationship with their elderly parents report that they experience high levels of emotional stress related to their care efforts and everything else around them. This can lead to a wide variety of serious physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive health consequences, including exhaustion, fatigue, headaches, digestive health concerns, and even diminished health. Finding ways to ease and manage this stress can help you to protect your health and ensure that you are the highest quality caregiver possible for your aging parents, as well as the best in your other capacities as well.
There are many ways that you can manage and ease your stress, but one creative way that will benefit you as well as the other members of your family is a group membership to the gym. Having a membership to the gym is a wonderful way to give yourself something to ease your stress while also ensuring that your family members can benefit as well.

Some ways that a gym membership can be effective at easing the stress in your caregiver journey include:
• Physical activity. Staying physically active is a fantastic way to support mental and emotional health. Exercise releases hormones that elevate mood, relieve tension, and make you feel better about yourself. It also encourages better sleep and improves your overall health and wellbeing, which further reduces the stress that is on you.
• Child care. Most large gyms have special childcare centers that will give your little ones something fun and engaging to do while you exercise. This lets them stay active, make friends, and maybe even have some quiet time for their homework while you have some time to yourself.
• Time with your partner. Exercising with your partner is a wonderful way to stay emotionally bonded and spend meaningful time together. Joining a gym carves out time for you to interact, support each other, and do something good for yourselves while feeling closer. Try taking a class together, working out on exercise or weightlifting machines, or even joining a pickup sports game together.
• Go swimming. Spending time in the water is soothing and relaxing, but it is also a fantastic form of exercise. Water provides resistance that works your muscles and joints, but buoyancy that relieves pain and stress on the body. This way you can all have fun together, which eases tension while also helping you to pursue your care goals of keeping your parents active and healthy.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring a professional caregiver in Concord NC, contact the caring professionals at TenderHearted Home Care today. Call us at (704) 612-4132

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