For the Caregiver: Good Mental Health Habits

photo of a health care giver

If the man in your life is struggling with addiction, you know all too well the toll it can have on your physical and mental health. And while it’s normal to want to put his needs in front of yours, caring for yourself is a crucial part of your caregiving duties.

By maintaining your physical and mental health, you’ll be more resilient and more able to weather hard times and enjoy good ones, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).  In honor of Mental Illness Awareness Week, which takes place the first week of each October, the NAMI put together a few tips for caregivers to mind their own mental health.

Here are a few good mental health habits to start practicing today:

  • Don’t’ get weighed down by guilt. “A better person wouldn’t be annoyed with their spouse.” While this type of thinking is normal it’s also unproductive and untrue, according to the NAMI. To dial down stress and feel more in control, try taking note of your feelings without judging them as good or bad.
  • Do take note of the positive. The NAMI suggests the following activity: Write down one thing each day (or each week) that was good. And it can be tiny — “It was a sunny day,” for example – as long as it’s real.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Being willing to accept help isn’t easy, but it is a necessary life skill when caring for a loved one with addiction. So stop thinking that you can (or should be able to) solve everything yourself. Often, the people who seem like they know how to do everything are actually frequently asking for help, notes the NAMI.
  • Do keep up social ties. Who has time to meet a friend for coffee? Being a caregiver is an important part of your life, but it’s not everything. If you can meet up with a friend once a month, or go to a community event at your local library once every two months, it still helps keep you connected, says the NAMI.

Family Night at 10 Acre Ranch
Every Wednesday night, we offer family night where families and clients are educated together on the disease of addiction. When the family has a full understanding of the disease, and the client understands how their actions affect the family, the healing process is greatly enhanced begin. To learn more about our family therapy, call today: 877-228-4679.

E-Cigarettes Could Save Millions of Lives

woman using e-cigarrette

Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that keeps tobacco users coming back for more. If you are in recovery, then you know that many of your peers are still smoking cigarettes. You may still be a smoker yourself. Perhaps you have tried quitting in the past, but were unable to manage the difficult task at that time. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog might remember a post from several months back. One that discussed the risks of smoking to your recovery. Hopefully, the post struck a chord and made you reconsider your relationship with nicotine.

While quitting smoking is difficult, it is possible. There are a number of methods that can help mitigate the likelihood of starting again after quitting. All such products you are undoubtedly aware of. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes. Health experts have been trying to get a grasp on the risks and benefits of using the devices. Both for smoking cessation purposes and/or replacing one nicotine vehicle for another. If you are trying to quit smoking and this is something that interests you, then you should take a look at a website like Vaping360. Hopefully, this might be the thing to help you quit smoking for good.

If you have been following the news about such research, then you know that there isn’t a real consensus. Some argue that e-cigs are worse than traditional cigarettes. But, not necessarily for the reasons that traditional cigarettes are bad for you. Others debate whether they are an effective way to quit smoking altogether. Again, the research is both new and relatively inconclusive in that regard. However, a cursory review of the available research indicates experts tend to agree on one front. Traditional cigarettes are worse than e-cigarettes for one’s health.

E-Cigarettes Might Save Your Life

Vaping is what e-cigarette use has come to be called. And in the rooms of recovery there are many-a-vaper. Perhaps you use an electronic cigarette? If so, there is some new research that you may find of particular interest. Researchers from Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center contend that e-cigarettes can save millions of lives, according to a GMUC press release. In fact, as many as 6.6 million cigarette smokers will live substantially longer by making the switch. The research showed that smokers could gain 86 million years of life if they switch to vaping. So if this is something that you are interested in, then one thing that you take a look at buying would be buying something like these vape & dab pen batteries.

“In addition, there would be tremendous health benefits including reduced disease disability to smokers, reduced pain and suffering, and reduced exposure to second hand smoke,” says the study’s lead author David Levy, PhD, professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi. “Even the gloomiest analysis shows a significant gain in years of life if nicotine is obtained from vaping instead of much more deadly amount of toxicants inhaled with cigarette smoke.”

The team of researchers believe that e-cigarettes should become an important part of the U.S. tobacco prevention policy. The status quo isn’t going to cut it. Smokers should be encouraged to make the switch to e-cigarettes. The findings were published in the journal Tobacco Control.

Protecting Your Recovery

Ideally, everyone dependent upon nicotine would give it up all together. But, reality dictates a common-sense approach. If e-cigarettes are the lesser of two evils with regard to one’s health and longevity, smokers should consider switching. What’s more, it may be possible to step back one’s reliance on nicotine by using e-cigarettes. Given that you can get varying degrees of nicotine strength, with the goal of working your way to nicotine-free vapor.

At 10 Acre Ranch, we encourage all of our clients to give smoking cessation serious thought. We can help you break-free from tobacco while learning how to live a life in recovery. Please contact us if you are ready to take steps toward recovery.