Montana Sunset by Sam Tresco

What  are caregivers?

Caregivers are people who attend to the needs of others. Caregivers are both formal (professional caregivers) and informal, usually family members.  The number of informal caregivers is estimated to be 54 million and growing.  (1) Most informal caregivers are middle aged working women.  (2)  Thirty percent of family caregivers caring for seniors are themselves aged 65 or over; another 15% are between the ages of 45 to 54.

What is the value ascribed to family, or informal, caregivers?

According to one study presented at a National Institute of Health forum, the value of the services family caregivers provide without pay is estimated to be $306 billion a year. Interestingly, this number of caregivers represents about  twice the cost of what is paid for homecare and nursing home services for caregiving combined ($158 billion). (3)

What is the cost to Caregivers?

The measurable costs to caregivers include increased health issues.  As an example, family caregivers report having a chronic condition at more than twice the rate of non-caregivers. (4) Stress of caregiving for persons with dementia has been shown to negatively affect the caregiver’s immune system for up to three years after their caregiving ends, which increasing the chances of the caregiver developing illnesses. (5)

The other costs of caregiving are more difficult to measure but are just as important to address.  Caregivers can find themselves experiencing anger and resentment.  And these feelings then lead to feeling of guilt.  All of these feelings create stress to the caregiver, adding to an already stressful situation and depressed immune system. “Most of us haven’t faced what it really means to have these bodies that are going to get old and die,” says Nischala Joy Devi, a yoga and meditation teacher who cofounded the Commonweal Cancer Help program in Bolinas, California, and is the author of The Healing Path of Yoga. “So caregiving brings up our own helplessness and fear.” (6)

What can Caregivers do to Address these issues?

“One of the most important things we can do is to take care of ourselves,” says Nischala Joy Devi. “We’re taught that it’s selfish—I don’t know where that comes from.”   Devi shares an old Sufi saying: “‘Never give from the depths of your well, but from your overflow.’”  (7)
There are simple steps a caregiver can take, or someone who knows a caregiver can suggest, to restore some energy and to prevent further depletion.

Short simple yoga breathing and stretching exercises can do two things.

1. Provide a simple and effective tool for using the breath to deal with stress, both lowering elevated stress levels and helping to prevent the runaway train of stress in stressful situations.

2. Provide a simple tool for releasing muscular stress in the body, which can translate into feelings of stress in the mind.

Some options:

1. Download the FREE mp3 relaxation breaks on our website. They are 5 minutes and easy to do. No yoga experience or yoga mat necessary. Click Here.

2. Use the Yoga for Caregivers DVD/CD for 5 to 10 minutes each day. NO YOGA experience or mat necessary. Short breaks for all ages, sizes and abilities. Learn more. Click Here.

3. Learn the 2 minute breathing techniques to help lower stress levels in your body. You always have your breath with you. Or, do the exercise with the person for whom you are caring. Click here.

Comments from Caregiver Support Groups

“Yael presented yoga with the Alzheimer’s Association Murray Support Group. It was met with delight and relaxation.  The group has requested that she be a regular part of our program.  Yael is dynamic and does an excellent interactive presentation!  I highly recommend her to all individuals and groups.” ~ Sylvia Brunisholz, LCSW Utah Alzheimer”s Association

” Yael, thank you for sharing your calming and relaxing techniques. I think that bringing us all to the same mental or physical space and calming everyone helps to bring everyone to a place of comfort and trust that makes sharing easier. ” – Bonnie Shepherd, Leader, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Support Group

“I’ve been searching for ways to calm my mind. Thank you for the DVD/CD!” ~ Kim, member, FTD Support Group

FOR ORGANIZATIONS

GreenTREE Yoga does professional development for various caregiver groups, both formal and informal.

We work with Hospices, Utah Alzheimers Association, Senior Centers, and agencies that work with seniors and caregivers.

Contact us about working with your group. We also have volunteers who may like to work with your group.

Some Caregiver Facts:

There is wide latitude in the estimates of the number of informal caregivers in the U.S., depending on the definitions and criteria used. See citations below for source information.

• 52 million informal and family caregivers provide care to someone aged 20+ who is ill or disabled.⁸
• 29.2 million family caregivers provide personal assistance to adults (aged 18+) with a disability or chronic illness.⁹
• 34 million adults (16% of population) provide care to adults 50+ years.¹⁰
• 8.9 million caregivers (20% of adult caregivers) care for someone 50+ years who have dementia.¹¹
• 5.8 ⁷ - 7 ¹² million people (family, friends and neighbors) provide care to persons 65+ who need assistance with everyday activities.¹³
• Unpaid family caregivers will likely continue to be the largest source of long-term care services in the U.S. and are estimated to reach 37 million caregivers by 2050, an increase of 85% from 2000.¹⁴

(1) Health and Human Services. Informal Caregiving: Compassion in Action. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Based on data from the National Survey of  Families and Households (NSFH), 1998.

(2) “Because You Care,” by Catherine Griffen.  http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=439

(3) Arno, Peter S., “Economic Value of Informal Caregiving,” presented at the Care Coordination and the Caregiving Forum, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, NIH, Bethesda, MD, January 25-27, 2006.)

(4) Health and Human Services, Informal Caregiving: Compassion in Action. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), 1998 and 1 National Family Caregivers Association, Random Sample Survey of Family Caregivers, Summer 2000, Unpublished and National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.)

(5)  Janice-Kiecolt Glaser and Ronald Glaser, “Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 30, 2003.)

(6) and (7) http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2695

(8)  Health and Human Services. Informal Caregiving: Compassion in Action. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Based on data from the National Survey of  Families and Households (NSFH), 1998.
(9) Arno, P. S. Well Being of Caregivers: The Economic Issues of Caregivers, in T. McRae (Chair), New Caregiver Research. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. Orlando, FL. Data from 1987/1988 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), 2002.
(10)  National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Caregiving in the U.S. Bethesda: National Alliance for Caregiving, and Washington, DC: AARP, 2004.
(11) Alzheimer’s Association and National Alliance for Caregiving, Families Care: Alzheimer’s Caregiving in the United States. Chicago, IL: Alzheimer’s Association and Bethesda: National Alliance for Caregiving, 2004.
(13)  Spector, W. D. et al. The Characteristics of Long-Term Ca
re Users. AHRQ Publication No. 00-0049. Rockville: Agency for Healthcare Research and Policy, 2000.
(14)  Health and Human Services and Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The future supply of long-term care workers in relation to the aging baby boom generation. Report to Congress. Washington, DC, 2003.