Carers Health Information
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Eating well
A good, well-balanced diet will not only give you the energy you need to carry on caring, it will also boost your immune system and reduce your risk of falling ill. Obviously, your priority is to ensure that the person you care for has nourishing meals. However, if they have difficulty eating or are fussy about food this can affect the way you eat. For instance, you may not find time to have a proper meal or you may have little appetite. The cost of food may be a problem or it may be hard to get to the shops regularly.  Click here to learn more about nutrition, and dietary requirements for different age groups. Also dietary advice on how to eat well and keep illness away! Click here for recipe ideas.

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Your emotional well being Carers often have to cope with many conflicting feelings. Being a carer can be rewarding but it can also be demanding and frustrating. Alongside the positive moments there may be many painful feelings. Often the way you feel may be influenced by how you began caring - was it a choice you were able to make freely or are you in a situation that arose from circumstances? It’s important to recognise that you can love someone and still feel angry, guilty, depressed or resentful. These feelings are normal. You may find you can deal with them by acknowledging, "Yes, I feel angry because ...." Or you may prefer to seek someone objective to talk to such as a trained counsellor or another carer. At the same time you may have positive feelings, of love or satisfaction that you are doing your best, and it helps to share these too. When you are a carer it often seems as if everything revolves around the person you care for. It’s useful to remember that you also have some basic needs - privacy, a little personal space, time to be with friends and time to laugh and have fun. It is important that these needs and wishes are voiced to your social worker or care manager when you are having your carers needs assessment (click here to view more information on carers needs assessments) or you may wish to join your local carers group (click here to view more information about events within Surrey).  Don't forget there are teams of Carers Support Workers around Surrey who can also help you with information and emotional support.

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Sleeping Well
Carers often go short of sleep - either because the person they care for needs attention during the night or because they have too much on their minds to be able to relax. If you have had broken nights sleep for a long time, it can take a while before you get back to a  normal sleeping pattern. You may be thinking of all the things you have to do in the morning, one technique is to keep a pen and paper near to your bed and list things down. You may then feel you won't forget anything that needs to be done and perhaps even a sense of achievement when you start ticking all those jobs off in the morning Try not to worry if you are not sleeping well. Worrying that you are going to feel tired in the morning often makes it even harder to get to sleep. Try just to rest and relax in bed. If you find it hard to relax, there are techniques you can learn. Your GP practice may run sessions to teach these.  There are also many books and tapes about relaxation. If all else fails a hot milky drink, or a warm bath or treat yourself to both before bed can help to relax you.

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Keeping Fit Carers tend to carry on regardless through colds, coughs, headaches, stomach upsets, flu and worse, but don’t put off seeing your doctor if your headache or cough persists, if you feel faint or dizzy or if you have unexplained pains. Even with a minor illness, try to take some extra rest. Your body will have a better chance of making a quick recovery and there will be less chance of complications or the illness lingering on. While you are ill, it may help to take a general multi-vitamin supplement and additional vitamin C to boost your immune system and make up any deficit, particularly if you are not eating a great deal. And, of course, the sooner you see the doctor about unexplained symptoms, the more quickly and effectively they can be treated

You may feel tired, but regular, moderate exercise will actually give you more rather than less energy. As a bonus you’ll sleep better too. You may feel you haven’t the time but if you can create just a twenty-minute gap in the day, preferably not just before bedtime, it will be worth it.  If you simply haven’t got the time or energy to exercise, or if it’s difficult to leave the person you care for, then do some simple stretching and flexibility exercises at home. 

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