Understanding respite care: The solution for family caregiver burnout

How to know if you’re dealing with family caregiver burnout

If you’re running on empty and struggling to feel motivated to provide care for your loved one, you’re likely experiencing caregiver burnout. It’s a sign that you might be taking on too much. Burnout is a very common experience for those in a family caregiving role, especially as care needs become more complex with age, chronic conditions, increasing expenses, and tough decisions around housing and financial planning.

What can help? It might be time for someone else to take some weight off your shoulders, so that you can be there for your loved one the way you want to be. There’s a term for this kind of in-home care, which supplements care provided by family members. It’s called respite care.

Respite care: What is it and how can it reduce stress

Respite care is temporary or occasional in-home care that provides relief for family caregivers. It’s usually part-time and takes place where the care recipient resides.

Just as essential as a lunch break or PTO from work, respite care helps keep your relationship to family caregiving more balanced by giving you time to rest, take care of yourself, and process what may be a difficult emotional time for you and your family.

Many studies show that family members who provide unpaid care for their loved ones face significant increases in stress-related health conditions, affecting sleep, healthy eating and exercising, heart health, mental health, and relationships. With support, family caregivers have an opportunity to implement self-care practices that prioritize their own health, improving health outcomes.

Who can provide respite care for your loved one with temporary home care support

When other family members or other support networks aren’t available to help out with your loved one, in-home caregivers, such as Herewith Helpers, can share companionship, run errands, help around the home, and provide non medical assistance with Activities of Daily Living (commonly known as ADLs), such as bathing, transferring, toileting, meal preparation, and more.

While respite care can be provided by anyone in your loved one’s family or community, there are significant benefits to hiring a professional for at least some portion of the respite care you need:

• Control over scheduling care when you need it
• Accountability for quality of care and task completion
• Professional experience with your loved one’s care needs

There’s no perfect recipe for care, but respite is an essential ingredient for keeping yourself healthy and making sure your loved one gets the support they need.

How can you tell if you need respite care?

Caring for a loved one is something that many of us undertake willingly. We want our parent (or spouse, sibling, in-laws, family, or other loved ones) to be comfortable, close to family or in their own homes, living their lives to the fullest as long as possible.

The sacrifices that come with caregiving—lack of sleep, dueling priorities, stress on relationships, tough financial decisions, physical strain, isolation, and emotional distress—feel worth it, knowing that our loved ones are getting the support they need.

Yet while we try our best to provide support, there may come a point where we don’t have enough time or resources to devote to caregiving and still maintain our own lives. The stress of family caregiving can become overwhelming, frustrating, and expensive, causing caregiver burnout and stress on your mental health. Like other kinds of burnout, this can lead to physical and mental symptoms that can be harmful to your health over time.

Hiring an in-home caregiver can help relieve some of the stress of full-time caregiving by giving your time back to you, so that you can stay healthy and take care of the important things in your life.

Common symptoms of family caregiver burnout

If you find yourself spending more and more time caring for your loved one, taking on additional responsibilities, and shouldering emotional burdens on behalf of your family, you might be at risk of burnout. Increasing care duties that don’t allow you to engage with your usual outlets, such as going out with friends, exercising, or engaging with your hobbies and interests, can lead to feelings of isolation, depression, and unhealthy coping habits.

While identifying signs that you might be dealing with burnout, it’s important to remind yourself that you are doing your best and always consult your doctor if you have concerns.

Caregiver stress and burnout symptoms to monitor:

• Poor sleep
• Feeling isolated or anxious
• Mood swings
• Loss of interest in activities
• Inability to concentrate affecting work/other obligations
• Unusual weight gain or loss
• Headaches and body aches

Tips for managing family caregiver stress

Caregiving is a journey, and while there are no easy shortcuts, we’ve put together a few ideas to help relieve some of the stress that can contribute to burnout. Many of us only have time or energy to do one thing a day to help relieve stress—do what works for you.

• Ask family members, friends, or neighbors for help with specific tasks, whether it’s related to your caregiving , a household task, or errand
• Set aside time for yourself, even if it’s only a few minutes per day, when you don’t need to “be” or “do” anything
• Boost your energy with healthy snacks and plenty of water
• Incorporate movement in your day—a short walk to the mailbox, 5 minutes of stretching in between tasks, doing yoga videos with your kids or spouse
• Reach out to a friend to say hello or share a story from your day

Caregiver relief services to address burnout and support your loved one

It can be hard to take the leap, but getting respite care will help ease the daily stresses of caregiving in the long term, giving you time to care for yourself and other areas of your life.

Services that respite caregivers can provide:

• In-home, non-medical support after a surgery or health event
• Personal caregiving, such as bathing, feeding, and toileting
• Help with outings and errands, such as grocery shopping or taking your loved one to and from appointments
• Companionship, checking in on your loved one and engaging in their preferred activities
• Personal assistance around the house with light cleaning, tidying, laundry, and pet care
• Meal preparation, cooking, and cleaning the kitchen
• Basic assistance with using the TV, phone, or other household devices
• Support with advanced care needs, such as memory care and mobility support

Learn more about the service Helpers provide and find out if in-home care might be a good fit for your family’s respite care needs.