Wind down stress and anxiety for the person you care for and for yourself
For many of us, this time of year is a mixed bag emotionally. While gift buying, festive-meal planning and holiday get-togethers are sources of joy, they often come with stress. Caregiver stress can result in higher levels of anxiety and agitation for our loved ones with dementia.
ZinniaTV’s Nature channel gets high marks as a way to wind down stress and anxiety for the person you care for–and for yourself.
Videos like Lily Pond, Undersea Creatures and Bloom feature soothing images set to calming music. Pacific Forest Walk is 40 minutes of stunning scenery with natural sound effects–no music at all.
For a longer playing experience, select a playlist like Tranquility (50 minutes) or Enjoying Nature (1 hour 50 minutes). These are compilations of some of our favorite soothing videos.
And, if you are able to actually get out into nature, for a little while? Even better. During a recent rare sunny day here in Seattle I managed to fit in a hike with my sweet fella’. That’s Mount Rainier in the background.
📣 Subscriber Shout-Out:
From Judith who is caring for her husband
"Thanks for providing this resource. My husband seems to be enjoying it. What I’ve seen of it is lovely and sometimes I have a hard time tearing myself away! Is there a section with baking or cooking? There may well be and I just haven’t noticed it yet. But if not, I’d think it would be popular. Before Zinna, we were watching season after season of the Great British Baking Show and never growing tired of it."
Dear Judith,
Be sure to check out some of our videos that feature baking and meal preparation. Baking, Dumplings of the World and Indian Food are just a few that might appeal. Thanks for sharing!
✅ Allyson’s Weekly Care Tips:
Coping with a loved one’s Anxiety and Agitation
You just needed to run one quick errand. It was late in the day–the time when life is most difficult for your loved one. And you would have preferred to just let her stay at home alone. But it would not have been safe. And it was really just going to be a very quick errand. So you started bundling her up in her winter coat. She resisted. You got annoyed. She got upset, and there you were. The errand went un-run. You felt terrible that she was upset. Terrible that you caused it. Terrible that you are even in this situation.
Coping with the anxiety and agitation of a loved one can be challenging. And it’s made worse when we feel like we could have done better. Today we are sharing some of our favorite resources on this topic from trusted sources.
UCLA Caregiver Education Videos
