Tag: #selfcare

The Causes and Symptoms of Hypertension in Men

By Roz Jones

A few years ago, the American Medical Association announced that normal blood pressure should be 120/80. This was lowered from the previous systolic and diastolic pressure considered to be within the normal range. Hypertension in men is a serious and often fatal disease. High blood pressure can lead to heart failure; kidney failure; or stroke. When you become a caregiver it’s even more important to monitor your blood pressure

The combination of hypertension and being overweight increases the chances of developing one or more conditions. In fact, the older you are, the more likely you will develop hypertension unless you take steps to prevent it.  If you are overweight when you are young, you may develop hypertension at an older age. However, it has been suggested that hypertension is also inherited, which doesn’t help the situation either.

You may not even realize you have this condition, as the symptoms do not reveal themselves.  However, you should assume you are a candidate for hypertension if you are over 40; if there is a history of this condition in your family; and you are overweight.

The first thing you need to do if you are in any way susceptible to this condition is to remove sodium from your diet. Have your blood pressure checked at least once a month, and avoid stress.  Let’s face it; however, we may work in an environment that breeds stress.

Whether it’s the job; money problems; smoking; overweight; alcohol; and other social and psychological factors which may contribute to the condition, it is important to understand it is not a curable disease, nor one which is tangible. Also, keep in mind; that hypertension is not exclusive to any one group. It affects people from all walks of life. To what degree it can cause damage to your heart, kidneys and brain depends on its severity.

If you find that you have taken every precaution and your blood pressure is still high, your doctor may prescribe medication only if he or she feels it is absolutely necessary. Some of the drugs have side effects, while others can be tolerated. While on any type of medication, do not fall under the assumption that because you may feel better you can stop taking the drugs.  This is a dangerous scenario as mentioned earlier; hypertension is a symptom-less disease. 

If you follow a proper diet that does not contain sodium; if you alter your lifestyle in order to ease the stress and other factors which contribute to hypertension, it can be controlled. Nothing in life is more important than your health; certainly, nothing causes physical or psychological elements which can raise your blood pressure. Hypertension in men is prevalent, yet over fifty percent of men do not realize they have the condition.

Take care of your health and it will take care of you.

10 Tips for Stronger Mental Health – Part 2

By Roz Jones

To stay fit and healthy as a Caregiver, it’s important to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health. There are little things you can do each day that can contribute to your mental wellness.

Add these items to your daily routines and feel the difference:

  1. Make time to exercise. Regular exercise helps to boost the production of chemicals in your brain that improves your mood. This helps to eliminate low mood, anxiety, and stress.
  1. Have fun. Even if you are busy with caregiving, be sure to set some time aside for fun. Fun is actually very important to your mental health, life satisfaction, and a healthy outlook on life.
  1. Be sociable. Having a few good friends is great for your mental health. They can support and encourage you in good times and bad, giving you inspiration and motivation to live your best life.
  1. Volunteer. Helping others can be good for you too, as well as those you are helping. A little community spirit can go a long way to making you feel good about yourself.
    • Find a charity that speaks to your heart and volunteer your time to help others.
  1. Ask for help. Learn to recognize the signs that you aren’t feeling good and need to ask for help. There’s no need to feel ashamed about having to ask for help. We all go through tough times, but if you have support around you, you’ll be able to make it through to the other side.
    • If you feel as though your friends and family cannot help, or if your mental health issues have started to get too much for you to cope with, make an appointment to speak with your doctor.

Your mental health is important and, if not looked after, it may start to affect your physical health as well. Do the little things regularly that can help you to build strong mental health. You’ll love the difference in the way you feel.

Why People Don’t Forgive

By Roz Jones

We’ve all been hurt by people we love and trust. Too often, we’re told to ‘forgive and forget.’

That’s easier said than done.

Things happen and it becomes more and more difficult to move on. This is either because of a certain pattern forcing us to stay stuck and not let go.

We gathered five reasons why people don’t forgive, and ways you can move forward. 

  1. They Don’t Know How to Forgive

Before we can forgive, we have to understand what forgiveness actually is. When you forgive someone, you don’t have to be okay with them as a person, nor do you have to sign off on what they did.

If you wait until you feel that way, you may never forgive the other party at all. What they did will always trigger negative emotions any time you recall.

The alternative is to look at forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. Forgiving someone is finally feeling like no one owes you anything.

You let them out of any obligation towards you, even an apology. It’s just taking a step towards freeing your heart from any responsibilities.

  1. They Find It Hard Letting Go of the Bitterness

If you’re feeling bitter and sad, it can be hard to forgive. You always feel stuck and powerless.

Plus, many times, it’s just easier to deal with the added benefits of having been wronged. We feel sorry for ourselves. Then, we talk and complain, and it makes people listen. That kind of attention can be addictive, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons. It makes us feel important and wanted.

Not only that, but not forgiving can also be because holding onto the bitterness is just simpler. Playing the victim becomes part of who we are. Soon, we lose sight of everything else, even the good things that make us interesting and fun.

One of our favorite quotes by Nelson Mandela is, “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

In a nutshell, you’re much more than one bad situation. You’re a beautiful individual deserving of living a fully engaging life.

  1. They Attach Present Losses with the Past

Any time someone abuses our trust, it can trigger past pains. If left unchecked, it can cause a snowball effect of deep, intense emotions. The worst part is when it becomes a pattern that keeps repeating itself whenever we’re hurt.

Forgiving something like that can be extremely difficult. Many times it’s only because what we end up facing is too overwhelming and big, so much so that we don’t even know where to start.

The only way out is to stop recreating those patterns of pain. Let go of the past and separate yourself from the cycle of hurt. Once you do that, you can stop putting yourself in a position of having to forgive people over and over again.

  1. They’re Not Being Honest with Themselves

When we’re hurt, the quickest and safest reaction is to cover it up. Or at least not be honest about the real reason why we’re upset.

Maybe you’re mad at your sister for not calling you back. But you’re actually secretly furious that she said something snarky about the state of your marriage.

So, the first step is to be honest with yourself about what’s really making you angry. Then, letting go and forgiving becomes easier.

  1. They Don’t Want to Be Vulnerable

Feeling mad and angry makes us feel in control and tough. It even acts as an armor to keep the hurt away.

At the same time, not forgiving someone keeps you stuck. It forces you to keep replaying that painful situation in your mind. It leaves you feeling weak, vulnerable, and lacking in self-confidence.

However, there’s power in forgiveness. By letting go of the resentment and pain, you actually have more control than you think.

You no longer feel anxious or threatened every time you see them. As a result, you take away whatever control they have over you.

So, what does that mean? It means that forgiving takes strength and willpower. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The weak don’t forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.”

EXCITING NEWS!!

I am excited and thrilled to share with you my new adventure, “The Caregiver Café Podcast”. This podcast tackles and highlights the daily situations caregivers face with their aging loved ones. We also empower you to navigate the care and challenges of your loved one with relevant topics and through the voices of your peers and their life experiences.

Monday April 4th we launched our first episode, and you can learn all about it at this link. 

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing issues that caregivers face on a daily basis, and check out my newly-published book!

5 Reasons To Forgive Someone Who Has Wronged You

By Roz Jones

For April, we’re covering spring cleaning – getting your ducks in a row in your physical home, as well as clearing your mental space by practicing forgiveness. We hope you’ll be ready to charge into May with a new spring in your step! 

At some point in time, someone will wrong you. It might be big or it might be small. The likelihood of having your feathers ruffled is upped by close quarters and lots of time together, which can make the caregiver/patient relationship sticky. 

Whenever the offense happens, I can almost guarantee that you will have a choice to make. Will you choose to forgive them and move on with your life, or will you hold that grudge and those ugly emotions? 

Here are five reasons why you should choose to forgive the person who wrongs you.

1. It Helps Your Health

When you forgive someone, you are helping your own health. If you decide to not forgive someone, you end up harboring emotions like anger, frustration, disappointment, and more. They become constant stress on your heart and body but flare up when you think about that person or interact with them. This is not healthy for you. 

It is reasonable to hold this resentment for them for a little bit, but at some point, the best thing you can do is to let it go and move on with your life. It’s better for you to forgive. 

2. Take the High Road

Forgiving is the high road. It is the more morally correct path. By forgiving, you are being a better person and showing others in your life (and yourself!) that you can take the better route and be successful. 

You don’t want to become the person who holds every slight against them close to their heart and never forgives. That is a toxic attitude and one that will not be good for anyone involved. Take the higher road and be the better person. Forgive them. 

3. Everyone Makes Mistakes

They made a mistake. It might have been a giant one, but they still messed up. Something that everyone does. You mess up and I mess up. We all have failed and let people down in one way or another at some point in our lives. 

Forgiving someone who makes a mistake does not mean that you are forgetting about the mistake or that you are willing to let them do it again. It just means that you won’t carry it on your heart. 

4. Forgiving Helps You Move On

It is hard to move on from something if you don’t forgive. Forgiving is moving on. If you never stop blaming Jerry for eating your meatloaf, then you will never be able to move on from it. If you don’t forgive him, every time you see Jerry you will probably become angry because he ate your food. 

Maybe every time you see meatloaf you will be reminded of that time. You cannot move on from something if you don’t first forgive. Forgiveness allows for peace. Forgiveness helps take you from the past to enjoy your present. It is a calm to the chaos so that you can move on.

5. Inner Peace and Healing

Forgiving allows for healing. Perhaps healing for both parties, but most importantly it helps you find peace. At its root forgiveness is not about the other person especially when the transgression is egregious. What they did might have been awful, but when you forgive you do it for you.

You might feel like you benefit the least because you were the person harmed initially. This might be true, but you will not benefit at all by not forgiving. 

6. Forgiving Others Helps You Forgive Yourself

When you forgive others, it becomes easier to forgive yourself. Grace is contagious. Often when we identify and realize how resentment, anger, and grudges affect us when they are about other people, we can also see how those emotions affect us when they are about things we find difficult to forgive ourselves for. When you forgive other people, it becomes much easier to forgive yourself.

EXCITING NEWS!!

I am excited and thrilled to share with you my new adventure, “The Caregiver Café Podcast”. This podcast tackles and highlights the daily situations caregivers face with their aging loved ones. We also empower you to navigate the care and challenges of your loved one with relevant topics and through the voices of your peers and their life experiences.

Monday April 4th we launched our first episode, and you can learn all about it at this link. 

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing issues that caregivers face on a daily basis, and check out my newly-published book!

9 Ways to Cut Prescription Costs, Part 1

By Roz Jones

For April, we’re covering spring cleaning – getting your ducks in a row in your physical home, as well as clearing your mental space by practicing forgiveness. We hope you’ll be ready to charge into May with a new spring in your step! 

Everything related to medical care is expensive. 

Medical expenses are responsible for well over 60% of the bankruptcy filings in the United States. Prescriptions can be a significant expense with some pharmaceuticals can cost over $1,000 a week! 

If you don’t have comprehensive insurance, paying for your medications or the medications of a loved one can be a real challenge.

Use these strategies to reduce your prescription costs:

  1. Ask for the generic version. Anytime your doctor writes a prescription, ask if there is a generic equivalent. Generics can be much less expensive and some pharmacies will fill many generic prescriptions for $4! Most of us can afford $4.
  2. Ask for price matching. Sometimes your pharmacy will match the price at another pharmacy, even if that other pharmacy does business strictly via mail order. Pharmacies are competitive, just like any other business. It never hurts to ask.
  3. Get a phone app. There are phone apps that will compare the cost of your prescription at multiple pharmacies in your area. There are several, just do a search and find one that works for you.
  4. Split the pills. Many medications cost about the same, regardless of dosage. So you might be able to buy the prescription at double strength and split the tablets with a pill splitter. You just saved 50% on the cost of your medication.
  5. Cut coupons. There are also coupons for many medications. Check the magazines in your doctor’s waiting room. You can also look at these websites: www.internetdrugcoupons.com, www.optimizerx.com, and www.goodrx.com.

Check back in with us next Monday for part two!

EXCITING NEWS!!

I am excited and thrilled to share with you my new adventure, “The Caregiver Café Podcast”. This podcast tackles and highlights the daily situations caregivers face with their aging loved ones. We also empower you to navigate the care and challenges of your loved one with relevant topics and through the voices of your peers and their life experiences.

Monday April 4th we launched our first episode, and you can learn all about it at this link. 

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing issues that caregivers face on a daily basis, and check out my newly-published book!