When you are a carer you very often have to fight to take time out for yourself, there are so many aspects of what you do, you can find it hard justifying taking a break, cause you could be hoovering, folding the clothes or helping the one you are caring for to do something or another. There is always something to be done, and so little time.
What we have to remember as carers is that all of those things will be there in half an hour, or 20 minutes, and they will surely be there tomorrow, and in light of this revelation taking that 20 minutes to walk around the block can and will do so much for your health and mental well-being. We so under estimate what getting some fresh air into our lungs, and even feeling the breeze or sunshine on our faces. The fact is more and more people become deficient to vitamin D and this deficiency has also been one of the things linked to dementia.
It is vitally important then to get out of the house every day, as I said, you could just walk round the block, or walk 10 minutes in one direction and then walk back. If you can take the one that you care for with you, you could both be getting your dose of sunshine (we have been blessed with in at the moment here in the UK, and so late in the year as well!).
With mum now using the wheel chair it is actually easier for me to take her out and just simply walk round the block, take in some stores and hear the music being played by buskers in Camden. The thing that won't be good enough is sticking your head out of the window or door, you have to physically go out to feel the benefits. By all means open the windows and let the air flow though your home but you owe it to yourself to experience the fresh air while walking.
For now, decide when you will do it, don't wait until you have bucket loads of time, cause you never will. Just decide to walk 10 minutes in any direction and then back and see how you feel.
You can also click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts from the Journey of a Carer
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