My own health and well-being

You can neglect your health and well-being when you are busy caring and thinking about the person you care for.

Often, carers have little free time and stop doing things that they enjoy. Eating well and exercising can also fall by the wayside.

However, you must look after your health, physical and emotional, and build in time for yourself. Doing activities that you enjoy and that are fun can make it easier to cope when things are difficult.

Physical health

Most people feel better if they eat well and exercise.

But sometimes these things are not easy to fit in.  Think about the best time to fit these in and then try to get into the habit of doing it. It’s easy to drop things you do for yourself when you put others’ needs before your own, so give the same importance to things you need to do.

There are lots of websites that offer useful ideas and information for carers:

• NHS Choices has a section on fitness, tutorials and workouts you can do at home.  There are simple exercises for older people and people with reduced mobility; yoga, dance, walking and much more.
• Healthy eating on NHS Choices.
• Coping with tiredness and fatigue on NHS Choices.

For unpaid carers who cannot get to the gym, there is an excellent set of inclusive activity and well-being videos from Carers UK.

Featuring real carers with professional instructors, they have been specially designed for all abilities and for those who would prefer to be active at home.

Visit the entire playlist

Carers Active Hub

If you want to get more active, it’s worth a visit to Carers UK’s Carers Active Hub. The Hub has lots of resources and support for carers to become more active, including: 

• Physical activity and well-being videos – short video workouts and bitesize exercises
• Health information – key recommendations and how to get started
• Activity ideas – inspiration and resources to help carers find something they enjoy
• Carers’ stories – carers share their experiences of getting active while caring
• Expert advice – insight from health and social care professionals

Carers Active Hub

Mental health

How stress affects us and the need to look after our mental health is becoming more widely recognised. 

It’s not easy to cope with anxiety, low mood and feeling overwhelmed but there are some steps you can take to reduce stress and help you feel more in control. Here are some things that might help:

Information about feelings and symptoms that can affect your mental health like stress, anxiety and depression on NHS Choices.

Blog – How to manage low mood as a carer
 
Blog – Depression and anxiety in carers

Counselling

Talking about how you feel could help you manage any difficult feelings and sharing problems can lighten the load.

The local NHS Well-being service offers free courses, groups and one-to-one support to people experiencing stress, low mood and anxiety:

NHS Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Talking Therapies

Our counselling service for carers

Befriending

Conversation, companionship and emotional support can help you cope with the sense of loneliness and isolation that you might feel as a result of your caring role.

• Age UK's Befriending Service South Gloucestershire
• Befriending – Changes Telephone support specifically around mental health in Bristol
• Befriending Service – Womankind Offers three Befriending Services to women across Bristol and South Glos around:
  • mental health issues
  • isolation
  • sexual violence
• Befriending Service – Reengage   Telephone befriending service for LGBT+ aged 75 years + to break isolation & loneliness
• Befriending and social inclusion – WECIL Supporting Independent Living for disabled adults (18+) with a long-term condition to be teamed up with a telefriender (Bristol & South Gloucestershire)
  
  Join one of our carer support groups

Take some time out from caring

Taking any time out to do something you enjoy is a good start, whether that’s going for a walk, reading or meeting up with a friend. If you can try to build this into your routine and get into the habit of doing it, that may help you keep to it.

Meditation and mindfulness are becoming more popular and relaxing therapies like massage can be a good way to take some time out. These kinds of things can be expensive, but you can use your Carers Emergency Card to get discounts from local therapists.

Some local colleges also offer reduced-cost therapies:

• Bristol College of Massage and Bodywork offers reduced-cost treatments with a student
• Hair, beauty therapy or massage at local colleges in their student salons at reduced rates:
  • Envy Hair and Beauty Salons at South Gloucestershire and Stroud college
  • Academy Salons at City of Bristol College

You could try a meditation or mindfulness course or class. There are various options locally:

• The Wellbeing College In Bristol For courses around well-being including mindfulness.
• Wellspring Healthy Living Centre offers low-cost health fitness and well-being classes in Bristol.
• The Mindful Life helps Carers cope with stress and difficult emotions using mindfulness-based approaches, running taster sessions, introductory mindfulness programmes and ongoing weekly meditations. Free to participants.
• You may be able to get some funding through a Carers Assessment to pay for a therapeutic or health-related activity.

Further help and advice

Find out more about how you can look after your health and wellbeing:

• Taking care of yourself from Carers UK
• Better Health Physical health-related information from the NHS site
• One You South Gloucestershire Support to enable you to build your healthier future from South Gloucestershire Council

If it’s hard for you to get out, there are various free online courses for carers collated by Carers Trust.