Caregivers Corner

This isn't a fitness program — it's about keeping the strength, balance, and stamina that caring for someone actually takes.

• Function, not appearance. Can you help someone up from a chair? Walk beside someone unsteady? Get through a long day and a longer night? That's the goal.
• No gym needed. Walking, chair stands, wall push-ups, calf raises, gentle stretching — a few minutes at a time adds up.
• Ten minutes beats zero. The 150-minutes-a-week figure is a target, not a rule. Start small and build.
• Check with your doctor first if you have pain, balance trouble, heart-health risk, or a long stretch of being inactive.

Read the full guide — a six-move routine and a daily check → Try Move & Count — a movement-plus-counting exercise to do together →

When you're short on sleep, everything about caregiving gets harder — and less safe. Sleep belongs on the care schedule, not whatever's left over.

• Sleep is a safety issue. Did they take the right medication? Is that bruise new? Those questions need the attention and judgment that sleep loss takes away.
• Keep a steady sleep and wake time, even after a rough night, and get daytime light and activity.
• If their nights wake yours, look at what's behind it — pain, medications, confusion — with their doctor, rather than guessing.
• Don't wait until you're exhausted. Ask for a night off, arrange respite, trade shifts. Ongoing sleep loss isn't something to just accept — raise it with your own doctor.

Read the full guide — why it matters, and a private sleep check →

As we get older, the goal isn't eating less — it's getting enough of the right things to hold on to strength and independence.

• Protein matters more with age, not less. Include some at every meal — eggs, fish, poultry, dairy, beans, nuts. (Kidney disease is the exception; ask their doctor first.)
• Hydration matters as much as food. Offer fluids through the day — don't wait for thirst, which fades with age. Too little fluid is a common, preventable cause of confusion, falls, and hospital visits.
• Make every bite count. As appetite drops, lean on whole foods, and ask a provider about vitamin B12, vitamin D, and calcium.
• Some changes aren't "just aging." Unplanned weight loss, a fading appetite, or new trouble chewing or swallowing is worth a call to the doctor.

Read the full guide — protein targets, a food chart, and the research →

Caregiving doesn't have to fall on one person — and keeping a life of your own is part of doing it well.

• Think in three rings: family who can share the load, friends (old ones you've lost touch with and newer ones who understand), and professional help — the care team, a support group, respite care, a counselor for you.
• Isolation creeps in slowly — a missed lunch, a dropped hobby — until the calendar has no one else on it.
• Other caregivers get it in a way most people can't. A support group, online or in person, helps.
• This week: text one friend, put one non-caregiving thing on the calendar, and hand one task to one person.

Read the full guide — why it matters and how to build your circle →

You can't run on empty. This is about giving your mind a break, even a short one — and not feeling guilty about it.

• Box breathing: in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Two minutes can take the edge off.
• Small breaks count. A cup of coffee sitting down, a few pages of a book, one song — you don't have to earn them.
• Play something yourself. The Eye Remembering activity library is its own kind of rest — alone, or together.

Start the two-minute breathing exercise →

When someone loses the words for pain or confusion, their face often still shows it. This is about training your eye to catch it.

• The face still speaks when the words are gone — a wince, a furrowed brow, a flat stare.
• These signals are fast — often gone in about half a second. Noticing them takes practice.
• It's not a test. The practice exercise has three gentle levels and no score — just a sharper eye.

Try the exercise →