REIKI FOR CAREGIVERS
As a member of the International Association of Reiki Professionals (IARP), I have access to numerous resources including related Reiki articles. I am including an excerpt from an article about caregivers which has been the topic of conversation numerous times in recent weeks. I invite you to read on.
How Reiki Can Help Caregivers
Reiki is often used as a method for calming and encouraging healing in patients with various illnesses, yet it also has the potential to benefit their caregivers. Family caregivers give a lot of themselves when taking care of their loved ones. In addition to working to meet their loved one’s physical and emotional needs, they often have to address practical matters, such as paying for care, selling a parent’s house, and similar matters. On top of this, caregivers have additional responsibilities to balance, such as caring for children, performing housework, and managing a career. Reiki is one tool that may help caregivers with the stress, burnout, and other problems they tend to face.
Consequences of Caregiving
Approximately 38% of family caregivers find their situation highly stressful (National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2015). It is common for caregivers, especially family members, to neglect their own needs and health in favor of focusing on the loved one’s needs. If they do focus on themselves, they may feel guilty. Some signs of personal neglect include 55 percent skipping their own doctor’s appointments, 58 percent having their exercise habits decline after starting to caregive and 63 percent reporting a poor diet, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare. In fact, 21% of caregivers in 2020, up from 17% in 2015, report their own health as fair to poor (Caregiving in the US 2020, National Alliance for Caregiving and IARP, 2020). According to the same research study, in the USA, as an example, 23% of Americans have said that caregiving has made their health worse.
Caregivers may develop numerous problems due to the focused devotion of taking care of their loved one. They deal with a lot of stress from the toll caregiving itself takes and from the burden of adding it to other responsibilities. The 2004 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that family caregivers with extreme levels of stress had up to 10 years taken away from their lifespans. Depression is another common problem caregivers face. The Assessment of Family Caregivers from 2006 found that the number of family caregivers showing significant symptoms of depression was as high as 40 to 70 percent.
Caregivers face many other problems as well. They can face burnout, have trouble performing their work or keeping up with other family responsibilities, have financial troubles, and face other physical and mental health issues
Focusing on Self-Care
Because of the many problems that can arise when caregiving, these family members need to make their own health and well-being a priority. Also, caregivers are able to provide better care to their loved ones when they take better care of themselves. These are the reasons why the notion of self-care is widely discussed in relation to caregivers. Caregivers can use Reiki healing energy as one method of focusing on their mental, physical and spiritual health.
Reiki is associated with helping some of the main problems caregivers face, including stress and depression, with research backing up some of its abilities. For instance, a 2004 study in the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine looked at the effects of Reiki on psychological depression and self-perceived stress. After six weeks of Reiki treatment, researchers found that the psychological distress symptoms went down significantly. The study also found that the results were long-term, with the symptom differences lasting a year later.
Related to caregivers facing burnout, studies have found that Reiki has benefited health care workers with burnout. A 2011 study in the journal Biological Research for Nursing found that Reiki sessions offered immediate physiological effects that suggested the treatment affected the parasympathetic nervous system in the participants. The researchers noted that this reaction showed Reiki may encourage relaxation in this population.
These are just a couple of the studies that show positive results that have the potential to help the problems caregivers face.
Sources: caregiving.org/research/caregiving-in-the-us/caregiving-in-the-us-2020/,caregiving.org/research/caregiving-in-the-us-2015/,(2006). Assessment of Family Caregivers: A Research Perspective. In Family Caregiver Alliance (Eds.,caregiver.org/resource/caregiver-health/
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If you are a caregiver or you know someone who is providing caregiver support, I encourage you to reach out or share the link to this website. I am happy to provide information about how Reiki may help you remain a physically and emotionally healthy caregiver. Blessings.