Caring for Your Emotional Well-Being
When people think of home health care, they most commonly associate it with the physical side of caring for someone—helping them bathe, dress, and eat, for example. These needs are obvious and straightforward; clients can most often easily articulate the daily physical tasks for which they appreciate assistance.
It’s often harder for them to gauge the state of their emotional health, and even harder to communicate those feelings to their caregiver in a way that truly reflects what they’re trying to communicate.
At Here to There, we believe in taking a proactive approach when it comes to your emotional well-being. It’s an important part of life at every stage; and emotional and physical health are more intertwined than people often realize.
Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, has been a very effective tool for us in our approach to caring for your entire being. We encourage you to commit to mindfulness meditation every day for one month. Most of our clients who fully commit for the full month maintain a meditation practice for the rest of their lives. It’s really that beneficial.
Our caregivers are trained to guide you through the first couple of sessions until you’re comfortable meditating on your own; however, we’re happy to join you in a quick session whenever you’d like. Many of our clients enjoy meditating to start their time with their caregiver each day.
The benefits of a consistent meditation practice are many:
- MEMORY
Meditation has been linked to positive effects on memory, attention, executive function, and general cognitive ability. It has been suggested that it maintains cognitive function longer than if you did not have a meditation practice at all. It has been shown that meditating stimulates the Hippocampus and the frontal brain lobe – the main storage hubs for long and short term memory. - DIGESTION & CIRCULATION
The deep breathing exercises inherent in an effective meditation practice increase oxygen levels in the blood and help improve circulation. Improved circulation results in more efficient internal organs, including your stomach and intestines, which leads to improved digestion. Many clients report an improvement in digestion just days after beginning to meditate every day. - STRESS
Meditation helps decrease stress levels and improve focus, enabling you to face problems in a more effective way. It’s also been shown to stimulate the prefrontal cortex in your brain, which increases feelings of general happiness. - IMMUNE SYSTEM & LONELINESS
We’re including this because we thought it was interesting. A 2012 UCLA study revealed that eight weeks of mindfulness meditation bolstered the immune systems and decreased loneliness in older adults.
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of concentrating of the present moment without judgment. Often, people focus on their breathing and acknowledge and dismiss thoughts as they arise in their consciousness.
We are big believers in the benefits you can receive from a consistent and effective mindfulness meditation practice. If you’re interested in learning more, please let us know and a member of our staff will be happy to answer your questions.
