Health & Well-Being

Mental Health Support for Carers: How to Care For Yourself

Looking after another person’s mental and physical well being is a tremendous task, and in some cases, creating time for yourself can feel like a chore. While it is easier said than done, establishing time within the day to breathe and to have “you time” is a crucial form of mental health support for carers. 

Naturally, you aren’t going to inherit perfect time management or master the art of self-care after reading this blog. Instead, you will hopefully walk away with some mental health support for carers, such as tips and tricks that could help kick start your journey to a healthier and happier you.

Mental Health Support for Carers – Our Top Tips

Try To Be As Realistic As Possible

While it might sound simple, being honest with yourself and identifying how many tasks you can healthily withstand is a game-changer. Many of us believe that we can juggle various tasks and responsibilities at once. However, in reality, we often take on too much and feel overwhelmed and burnt out. 

If you take on too many tasks and responsibilities at once, you may be overwhelmed, burnt out, and unproductive. So how can you fix this? The best way to combat this is to map out what tasks you can logistically withstand. Consider the hours of the day, what responsibilities you have, what are the most important, what is the most urgent. By outlining what you can handle, your life, workload, productivity and overall mood will drastically improve. Here are some tips that could help:

  • Write down and bullet point your goals.
  • Make a priority list – what needs doing first? What can be pushed back?
  • Make time for a well-deserved break.

Share How You Feel

It sounds simple, but reaching out and telling someone how you feel can be extremely cathartic and great for your mental health. For many of us, reaching out can be a daunting experience. We may feel like a burden or being “overdramatic”,  but that’s not the case. 

We all need to vent and speak to people from time to time. Whether it’s a healthy rant or a simple chat, taking that first step and speaking to someone will ultimately reduce your stress levels and help your health and well being. You can talk to: 

Keep Active

We all like to sit and binge the latest crime doc on Netflix for 8 hours straight, and while that is an excellent disconnecting activity, exercise is super important for your health. Carving out time to exercise, whether you enjoy a small walk, a swim, or taking part in a circuit training class is really beneficial. Your mental wellbeing is directly connected to your physical health, so make sure you are creating time for exercise!

Find ways to remain organised.

Trying to remain on top of everything in your life is a balancing act many of us struggle with. From laundry, cleaning, and making meals to getting a good night’s sleep, we all can and should do better. Did you know that there are millions of people using apps to organise their day-to-day life? Take a look at these Apps that could change your organisation skills:

Focus

Are you someone that needs a little help managing your day-to-day life? Focus is the perfect app to help you. Not only does the Focus App keep you on track with tasks, but it can improve your time management. Schedule your day (or week) and make time for you!

Sleep Cycle

Self-care is so important, especially when looking after others on a regular basis. Many people forget that sleeping is a critical part of self-care and neglect their sleeping pattern. For example, did you know that a consistent night’s sleep and a healthy bedtime routine can positively affect your health, both mentally and physically?

If you struggle to wake up in the morning – and let’s be honest, most of us do – Sleep Cycle is the ideal app. Sleep Cycle is an intelligent alarm clock that can track your sleep patterns.

Though it’s clever technology, the app analyses your sleeping patterns and determines when you are entering and exiting the lightest and heaviest sleep cycles. So what does that mean? Essentially, you set a time to wake up, and the Sleep Cycle will awaken you from your lightest sleep phase – meaning you will feel less tired and more energised. Smart, right?

Sweepy

Do you ever feel like cleaning your home can be an overwhelming nightmare? Join the club! Thankfully, Apps like Sweepy are changing the way people are approaching their household chores. 

With Sweepy, you can create a cleaning schedule to keep you on track. Whether you want schedules to remind you to clean specific rooms or to carry out particular tasks (like cleaning under your bed – we all forget), Sweepy will keep you on track!

It is important to not be too hard on yourself when you are a carer and remember that you are doing the best you can. By following our mental health support for carers tips and suggestions where possible, you are already making all the positive steps you can! 

More Blogs

New-In Discounts
Are you searching for new Carer discounts? We continually work with new brands across various categories, such as travel, fashion, finance, and much more.
Carers Discount List
Are you searching for a specific discount? Why not take a look at our A-Z Carers Discount list that is updated monthly? Check out the list today.

You Might Also Like

No Comments

    Leave a Reply