Easing Caregiver Stress during Tennis Month

Caregivers in Tequesta FL

As a family caregiver for an elderly parent, stress is just a reality of life. No matter how you feel about your parent, the reasons behind stepping into this role as a caregiver, or the efforts that you put forth for them, you are going to experience some level of stress. For some caregivers, this stress can reach very high levels, putting them at serious risk of health complications and issues. By focusing on reducing and managing your stress, your protect yourself from mental, emotional, and physical health issues while also ensuring that you can be the best caregiver possible for your aging parent.

May is Tennis Month. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to ease and manage your stress by channeling it into this fun activity. Physical exercise is a powerful way to reduce and manage stress and can be highly effective at helping to keep you as healthy and strong as possible throughout your care journey with your aging parent. This month, find a fitness club or other organization that offers tennis and hit the court for some fun that offers exceptional benefits.

Some of the stress-reducing and health-improving benefits of tennis include:

• Channeling energy. Sometimes thought of us "blowing off steam", having an activity that allows you to channel your energy and express your built up emotion through physical efforts can be extremely beneficial to easing stress. This lets you get out what you are dealing with in a healthy and constructive way, enabling you to focus better and work through the situation with a calmer, more controlled mind. This is effective whether you are under high levels of stress or just want to keep your stress from becoming too strenuous.

• Boosting physical health. Your level of physical health has a tremendous impact on your level of emotional and mental health. Keeping your body healthy and strong helps you to feel better, get better rest, and feel more confident in your abilities. Being physically strong and fit also means that you are less likely to experience illnesses or injuries that could impact your ability to handle care tasks. By staying physically healthy you also reduce the stress and strain of managing your care tasks, especially those with a hands-on component such as bathing or transferring.

• Social interaction. While you could spend some time on your own hitting balls delivered to you by a machine, tennis is by its nature a social activity. This gives you the chance to interact with others and talk about things that do not involve your care responsibilities. This allows your mind to rest and heal, and gives you a greater sense of autonomy and identity outside of your caregiver role. Interacting with others also stimulates your mind and gives you an emotional boost, lowering stress and enabling you to better cope with the stress that does arise.

• Sense of accomplishment. One element of a care journey with a senior that can be particularly stressful is feeling like you never get enough done or that you are not successful at anything that you do. Even if your parent is completely supportive and never expresses any type of distress or disappointment at your care, it is easy to feel like you are not doing well enough. Playing tennis is a great way to give yourself a sense of accomplishment that can ease the stress that these feelings cause. Each time that you improve your serve or win a match, you will get a little boost that makes you feel more confident in your abilities in other areas of your life, including your care efforts.