Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

[Guest guest]

Interesting article on today's New York Times website:

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=1\

& sq=caregiving & st=cse

From the New Old Age on today's NYT website

October 12, 2011

Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

By PAULA SPAN

Could there be measurable benefits to your health, and to your brain in

particular, from being a caregiver?

It's practically become an article of faith that the reverse is true, that

caring for an elderly relative is so stressful, relentless and draining that it

takes a toll on your well-being. Some studies have shown that it can increase

your risk of depression and heart disease, impair your immune system, even

contribute to death.

That caregiving could actually provide some health advantage is so

counterintuitive that when Fredman, a Boston University epidemiologist,

first saw such results emerging from her study of elderly women, " I thought,

what on earth is going on here? " she recalled. " I blamed myself. I thought

something was wrong with my data. "

But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and

non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and

Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were

indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers

over eight years of follow-up.

In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample, even

those classified as high-intensity caregivers — because they performed more

functions for their dependent relatives — maintained stronger physical

performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and

the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group

declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

" That was a shocker, " Dr. Fredman said.

Now Dr. Fredman and her co-author nna Bertrand, a health policy associate at

Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., have gone back to this pool of women to look

at their cognitive functioning. Here, again, caregivers did significantly better

on memory tests than did non-caregivers followed over two years. Though the

groups were about the same average age, in their early to mid-80s, caregivers

scored at the level of people who were 10 years younger.

Along with what's called " caregiver burden, " gerontologists and psychologists

use the phrase " caregiver gain " to reflect the fact that this role, which often

exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they've typically described those

rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual terms: growing confidence

in one's abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction, increased family

closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words on a memory test

— that's news.

Dr. Fredman has begun referring to this notion that caregivers are not

invariably beaten down by their responsibilities as the " healthy caregiver

hypothesis. " Taken together, her studies provide some evidence that caregivers,

however stressed, may be stronger and stay stronger than women of the same ages

who don't undertake those tasks. The interesting question is why.

You can't randomize studies like this, assigning some old women to serve as

caregivers but not others. So it's likely that a big part of the differences,

Dr. Fredman said, stemmed from self-selection: Women become caregivers because

they are healthy enough to shoulder that responsibility. " If you're not

healthy, " she said, " it goes to your daughter or daughter-in-law. " It's not

surprising, therefore, that even high-intensity caregivers have and maintain

more physical strength.

It's also true that Dr. Fredman's definition of a caregiver sets a fairly low

bar, including anyone who performs even one " instrumental activity of daily

living, " such as helping someone with bill-paying or phone use. Hands-on help

with bathing or toilet use is clearly more stressful, physically and

emotionally; caring for someone with dementia can be particularly arduous.

But caregiving itself may provide real benefits. " Most caregiving activities

require you to move around a lot, " Dr. Fredman pointed out. " It keeps people on

their feet, up and going. " And exercise is known to improve physical health and

cognition.

Moreover, Dr. Bertrand added: " Caregiving often requires complex thought.

Caregivers monitor medications, they juggle schedules, they may take over

financial responsibilities. " That, too, can ward off cognitive decline.

Plus there's the whole matter of people benefiting from having a purpose. It's

hard to quantify, but it's real.

So it's fair to say that the question of how caregiving impacts the caregiver is

more complicated and individual than we think. Both could be true, the burdens

and the benefits, depending on how demanding the job is and a host of other

factors.

That caregiving is a very tough job is beyond debate. " We don't want to

overstate this and say it's good for caregivers and have governors across the

country rush to cut support programs that help families, " said Zarit, a

Penn State gerontologist who has studied caregiving. (Of course, governors seem

all too eager to do that anyway.)

Still, " it may not be as predictive of their demise as previously thought, " Dr.

Bertrand said of elder care and caregivers. " There are potentially some positive

aspects. "

..

[Guest guest]

Norma

Great article ! Thanks for sharing !!

Judy R. Strauss LMSW PhD

Lead Faculty

University of Phoenix

Jersey City Campus

100 Town Square Place

|Jersey City, NJ 07310

Cell-

Email- Jrstr@...

>

> Interesting article on today's New York Times website:

>

>

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=1\

& sq=caregiving & st=cse

>

> From the New Old Age on today's NYT website

>

> October 12, 2011

>

> Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

> By PAULA SPAN

> Could there be measurable benefits to your health, and to your brain in

particular, from being a caregiver?

>

> It's practically become an article of faith that the reverse is true, that

caring for an elderly relative is so stressful, relentless and draining that it

takes a toll on your well-being. Some studies have shown that it can increase

your risk of depression and heart disease, impair your immune system, even

contribute to death.

>

> That caregiving could actually provide some health advantage is so

counterintuitive that when Fredman, a Boston University epidemiologist,

first saw such results emerging from her study of elderly women, " I thought,

what on earth is going on here? " she recalled. " I blamed myself. I thought

something was wrong with my data. "

>

> But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and

non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and

Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were

indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers

over eight years of follow-up.

>

> In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample, even

those classified as high-intensity caregivers — because they performed more

functions for their dependent relatives — maintained stronger physical

performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and

the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group

declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

>

> " That was a shocker, " Dr. Fredman said.

>

> Now Dr. Fredman and her co-author nna Bertrand, a health policy associate

at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., have gone back to this pool of women to

look at their cognitive functioning. Here, again, caregivers did significantly

better on memory tests than did non-caregivers followed over two years. Though

the groups were about the same average age, in their early to mid-80s,

caregivers scored at the level of people who were 10 years younger.

>

> Along with what's called " caregiver burden, " gerontologists and psychologists

use the phrase " caregiver gain " to reflect the fact that this role, which often

exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they've typically described those

rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual terms: growing confidence

in one's abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction, increased family

closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words on a memory test

— that's news.

>

> Dr. Fredman has begun referring to this notion that caregivers are not

invariably beaten down by their responsibilities as the " healthy caregiver

hypothesis. " Taken together, her studies provide some evidence that caregivers,

however stressed, may be stronger and stay stronger than women of the same ages

who don't undertake those tasks. The interesting question is why.

>

> You can't randomize studies like this, assigning some old women to serve as

caregivers but not others. So it's likely that a big part of the differences,

Dr. Fredman said, stemmed from self-selection: Women become caregivers because

they are healthy enough to shoulder that responsibility. " If you're not

healthy, " she said, " it goes to your daughter or daughter-in-law. " It's not

surprising, therefore, that even high-intensity caregivers have and maintain

more physical strength.

>

> It's also true that Dr. Fredman's definition of a caregiver sets a fairly low

bar, including anyone who performs even one " instrumental activity of daily

living, " such as helping someone with bill-paying or phone use. Hands-on help

with bathing or toilet use is clearly more stressful, physically and

emotionally; caring for someone with dementia can be particularly arduous.

>

> But caregiving itself may provide real benefits. " Most caregiving activities

require you to move around a lot, " Dr. Fredman pointed out. " It keeps people on

their feet, up and going. " And exercise is known to improve physical health and

cognition.

>

> Moreover, Dr. Bertrand added: " Caregiving often requires complex thought.

Caregivers monitor medications, they juggle schedules, they may take over

financial responsibilities. " That, too, can ward off cognitive decline.

>

> Plus there's the whole matter of people benefiting from having a purpose. It's

hard to quantify, but it's real.

>

> So it's fair to say that the question of how caregiving impacts the caregiver

is more complicated and individual than we think. Both could be true, the

burdens and the benefits, depending on how demanding the job is and a host of

other factors.

>

> That caregiving is a very tough job is beyond debate. " We don't want to

overstate this and say it's good for caregivers and have governors across the

country rush to cut support programs that help families, " said Zarit, a

Penn State gerontologist who has studied caregiving. (Of course, governors seem

all too eager to do that anyway.)

>

> Still, " it may not be as predictive of their demise as previously thought, "

Dr. Bertrand said of elder care and caregivers. " There are potentially some

positive aspects. "

>

> .

>

>

[Guest guest]

good notion that caregiving is healthy but i don't buy it.  i do believe that

it is the morally correct thing to do.  i am a 61 year old caregiver.  i  am

having more accidents than i normally would:  fell 2 feet off a ladder ( almost

cracking my hip),  got cactus juice in my eye ( got infected),  i have to take

antidepressents now,  my stomach is producing acid all the time ( dr. said take

another pill every day), i don't sleep so well, mind is always multi-tasking (

very tiring mentally), i take a tranquilizer every now and then,  etc.  i

would just bet that there are more like me out there.      gary

>

> Interesting article on today's New York Times website:

>

>

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=1\

& sq=caregiving & st=cse

>

> From the New Old Age on today's NYT website

>

> October 12, 2011

>

> Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

> By PAULA SPAN

> Could there be measurable benefits to your health, and to your brain in

particular, from being a caregiver?

>

> It's practically become an article of faith that the reverse is true, that

caring for an elderly relative is so stressful, relentless and draining that it

takes a toll on your well-being. Some studies have shown that it can increase

your risk of depression and heart disease, impair your immune system, even

contribute to death.

>

> That caregiving could actually provide some health advantage is so

counterintuitive that when Fredman, a Boston University epidemiologist,

first saw such results emerging from her study of elderly women, " I thought,

what on earth is going on here? " she recalled. " I blamed myself. I thought

something was wrong with my data. "

>

> But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and

non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and

Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were

indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers

over eight years of follow-up.

>

> In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample, even

those classified as high-intensity caregivers — because they performed more

functions for their dependent relatives — maintained stronger physical

performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and

the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group

declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

>

> " That was a shocker, " Dr. Fredman said.

>

> Now Dr. Fredman and her co-author nna Bertrand, a health policy associate

at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., have gone back to this pool of women to

look at their cognitive functioning. Here, again, caregivers did significantly

better on memory tests than did non-caregivers followed over two years. Though

the groups were about the same average age, in their early to mid-80s,

caregivers scored at the level of people who were 10 years younger.

>

> Along with what's called " caregiver burden, " gerontologists and psychologists

use the phrase " caregiver gain " to reflect the fact that this role, which often

exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they've typically described those

rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual terms: growing confidence

in one's abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction, increased family

closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words on a memory test

— that's news.

>

> Dr. Fredman has begun referring to this notion that caregivers are not

invariably beaten down by their responsibilities as the " healthy caregiver

hypothesis. " Taken together, her studies provide some evidence that caregivers,

however stressed, may be stronger and stay stronger than women of the same ages

who don't undertake those tasks. The interesting question is why.

>

> You can't randomize studies like this, assigning some old women to serve as

caregivers but not others. So it's likely that a big part of the differences,

Dr. Fredman said, stemmed from self-selection: Women become caregivers because

they are healthy enough to shoulder that responsibility. " If you're not

healthy, " she said, " it goes to your daughter or daughter-in-law. " It's not

surprising, therefore, that even high-intensity caregivers have and maintain

more physical strength.

>

> It's also true that Dr. Fredman's definition of a caregiver sets a fairly low

bar, including anyone who performs even one " instrumental activity of daily

living, " such as helping someone with bill-paying or phone use. Hands-on help

with bathing or toilet use is clearly more stressful, physically and

emotionally; caring for someone with dementia can be particularly arduous.

>

> But caregiving itself may provide real benefits. " Most caregiving activities

require you to move around a lot, " Dr. Fredman pointed out. " It keeps people on

their feet, up and going. " And exercise is known to improve physical health and

cognition.

>

> Moreover, Dr. Bertrand added: " Caregiving often requires complex thought.

Caregivers monitor medications, they juggle schedules, they may take over

financial responsibilities. " That, too, can ward off cognitive decline.

>

> Plus there's the whole matter of people benefiting from having a purpose. It's

hard to quantify, but it's real.

>

> So it's fair to say that the question of how caregiving impacts the caregiver

is more complicated and individual than we think. Both could be true, the

burdens and the benefits, depending on how demanding the job is and a host of

other factors.

>

> That caregiving is a very tough job is beyond debate. " We don't want to

overstate this and say it's good for caregivers and have governors across the

country rush to cut support programs that help families, " said Zarit, a

Penn State gerontologist who has studied caregiving. (Of course, governors seem

all too eager to do that anyway.)

>

> Still, " it may not be as predictive of their demise as previously thought, "

Dr. Bertrand said of elder care and caregivers. " There are potentially some

positive aspects. "

>

> .

>

>

[Guest guest]

I don’t buy it either . Not everyone has a choice - or a clear choice. I

sure didn’t but even so I do feel morally bound to do my best. It ground me

up so much that we hire people for the physical work, I still must be here for

the mental work. There is not anyone but my husband and I. That’s it. No

children. No siblings. Nada. We could put her in a medi-cal nursing home. I

can’t imagine – or don’t want to imagine. She soils herself constantly.

How would she ever be clean? She cannot eat or drink without help, she needs

coaching for everything even swallowing, blowing her nose, coughing and spitting

phlegm out so it doesn’t choke her (that’s getting dicey!). She thinks her

loved ones are on the television and worries if she will ever see them again in

the flesh… ghosts with yellow hair come and stay all night… surely they

would want to knock her out and keep her quiet and not hear the constant loud

serenade of “Help me I want to get up my stomach hurts my leg hurts I need to

get up help me please I’m itchy help meeeeeee†all night long? Or the loud

conversations with the yellowed-haired obeki (Japanese ghosts)?

I’d really like to read the real study and see exactly what their study

subjects were and what kind of study it was and what criteria they use to come

to these conclusions. Is it only by being alive 8 years later (is that after

their loved one died or after their loved one went to a nursing home?), having a

strong grip and ability to get up fast and walk briskly? Did the study keep

count of how many medical appointments caregivers had, what their health issues

are, depression and other things? Was it through some kind of illness like

cancer and were any of those who fared so well caregivers for someone with

LBD/Parkinson’s through to the end?

I am 52. I’m exhausted and run down and stressed. My mind is always

multitasking too. The constant troubleshooting is very wearing. I feel like

most all of my waking time is triage and problem solving. I sometimes take half

a valium to sleep, always have pain and fatigue and prone to getting sick often.

Even when I have time to sleep I can’t shut my mind off always. I’ve been

fighting a viral infection (maybe shingles) in my ear and nervous system acutely

since June (despite the vaccine). My husband and I have so much to do – so

much we still want to do and I have to get myself out of a rut every few days

wondering if I’m going to survive this and be able to be healthy again.

You’re not alone . I sure hope you’re faring better J The thing that

keeps me going is I know this is the right thing to do and I am so very glad to

be doing it – and I have a huge amount of hope that I will survive and when

she is finally at rest and free of this horrible disease, my husband and I will

have a time to grieve and heal our lives and that will be a time of renewal.

Until then I just keep one foot in front of the other and try to look outside

and see the sky each day or take a walk, try to keep some humor alive and well.

But hold on -- Maybe the benefit to the brain IS the constant multitasking

troubleshooting triaging many of us are having to do??? And I thought it was

just giving me a headache! J

Dorothy

From: LBDcaregivers [mailto:LBDcaregivers ] On

Behalf Of gary dale

Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 2:15 PM

To: LBDcaregivers

Subject: Re: Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

good notion that caregiving is healthy but i don't buy it. i do believe that it

is the morally correct thing to do. i am a 61 year old caregiver. i am having

more accidents than i normally would: fell 2 feet off a ladder ( almost

cracking my hip), got cactus juice in my eye ( got infected), i have to take

antidepressents now, my stomach is producing acid all the time ( dr. said take

another pill every day), i don't sleep so well, mind is always multi-tasking (

very tiring mentally), i take a tranquilizer every now and then, etc. i would

just bet that there are more like me out there. gary

>

> Interesting article on today's New York Times website:

>

>

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=1

<http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=\

1 & sq=caregiving & st=cse> & sq=caregiving & st=cse

>

> From the New Old Age on today's NYT website

>

> October 12, 2011

>

> Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

> By PAULA SPAN

> Could there be measurable benefits to your health, and to your brain in

particular, from being a caregiver?

>

> It's practically become an article of faith that the reverse is true, that

caring for an elderly relative is so stressful, relentless and draining that it

takes a toll on your well-being. Some studies have shown that it can increase

your risk of depression and heart disease, impair your immune system, even

contribute to death.

>

> That caregiving could actually provide some health advantage is so

counterintuitive that when Fredman, a Boston University epidemiologist,

first saw such results emerging from her study of elderly women, " I thought,

what on earth is going on here? " she recalled. " I blamed myself. I thought

something was wrong with my data. "

>

> But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and

non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and

Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were

indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers

over eight years of follow-up.

>

> In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample, even

those classified as high-intensity caregivers — because they performed more

functions for their dependent relatives — maintained stronger physical

performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and

the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group

declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

>

> " That was a shocker, " Dr. Fredman said.

>

> Now Dr. Fredman and her co-author nna Bertrand, a health policy associate

at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., have gone back to this pool of women to

look at their cognitive functioning. Here, again, caregivers did significantly

better on memory tests than did non-caregivers followed over two years. Though

the groups were about the same average age, in their early to mid-80s,

caregivers scored at the level of people who were 10 years younger.

>

> Along with what's called " caregiver burden, " gerontologists and psychologists

use the phrase " caregiver gain " to reflect the fact that this role, which often

exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they've typically described those

rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual terms: growing confidence

in one's abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction, increased family

closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words on a memory test

— that's news.

>

> Dr. Fredman has begun referring to this notion that caregivers are not

invariably beaten down by their responsibilities as the " healthy caregiver

hypothesis. " Taken together, her studies provide some evidence that caregivers,

however stressed, may be stronger and stay stronger than women of the same ages

who don't undertake those tasks. The interesting question is why.

>

> You can't randomize studies like this, assigning some old women to serve as

caregivers but not others. So it's likely that a big part of the differences,

Dr. Fredman said, stemmed from self-selection: Women become caregivers because

they are healthy enough to shoulder that responsibility. " If you're not

healthy, " she said, " it goes to your daughter or daughter-in-law. " It's not

surprising, therefore, that even high-intensity caregivers have and maintain

more physical strength.

>

> It's also true that Dr. Fredman's definition of a caregiver sets a fairly low

bar, including anyone who performs even one " instrumental activity of daily

living, " such as helping someone with bill-paying or phone use. Hands-on help

with bathing or toilet use is clearly more stressful, physically and

emotionally; caring for someone with dementia can be particularly arduous.

>

> But caregiving itself may provide real benefits. " Most caregiving activities

require you to move around a lot, " Dr. Fredman pointed out. " It keeps people on

their feet, up and going. " And exercise is known to improve physical health and

cognition.

>

> Moreover, Dr. Bertrand added: " Caregiving often requires complex thought.

Caregivers monitor medications, they juggle schedules, they may take over

financial responsibilities. " That, too, can ward off cognitive decline.

>

> Plus there's the whole matter of people benefiting from having a purpose. It's

hard to quantify, but it's real.

>

> So it's fair to say that the question of how caregiving impacts the caregiver

is more complicated and individual than we think. Both could be true, the

burdens and the benefits, depending on how demanding the job is and a host of

other factors.

>

> That caregiving is a very tough job is beyond debate. " We don't want to

overstate this and say it's good for caregivers and have governors across the

country rush to cut support programs that help families, " said Zarit, a

Penn State gerontologist who has studied caregiving. (Of course, governors seem

all too eager to do that anyway.)

>

> Still, " it may not be as predictive of their demise as previously thought, "

Dr. Bertrand said of elder care and caregivers. " There are potentially some

positive aspects. "

>

> .

>

>

[Guest guest]

I always question the validity of research that is counterpoint to what I have

read and what I have personally experienced. And this research has a bit of a

smell to it. I wonder if this one study can be duplicated. There are a lot of

studies out there that seem to duplicate the caregiver stress...and suddenly

this apple pie in the sky one comes along. Doesn't ring true. Nan

>

> >

> > Interesting article on today's New York Times website:

> >

> >

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=1

<http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/caregivings-hidden-benefits/?scp=\

1 & sq=caregiving & st=cse> & sq=caregiving & st=cse

> >

> > From the New Old Age on today's NYT website

> >

> > October 12, 2011

> >

> > Caregiving's Hidden Benefits

> > By PAULA SPAN

> > Could there be measurable benefits to your health, and to your brain in

particular, from being a caregiver?

> >

> > It's practically become an article of faith that the reverse is true, that

caring for an elderly relative is so stressful, relentless and draining that it

takes a toll on your well-being. Some studies have shown that it can increase

your risk of depression and heart disease, impair your immune system, even

contribute to death.

> >

> > That caregiving could actually provide some health advantage is so

counterintuitive that when Fredman, a Boston University epidemiologist,

first saw such results emerging from her study of elderly women, " I thought,

what on earth is going on here? " she recalled. " I blamed myself. I thought

something was wrong with my data. "

> >

> > But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and

non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and

Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were

indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers

over eight years of follow-up.

> >

> > In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample,

even those classified as high-intensity caregivers †" because they performed

more functions for their dependent relatives †" maintained stronger physical

performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and

the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group

declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

> >

> > " That was a shocker, " Dr. Fredman said.

> >

> > Now Dr. Fredman and her co-author nna Bertrand, a health policy

associate at Abt Associates in Cambridge, Mass., have gone back to this pool of

women to look at their cognitive functioning. Here, again, caregivers did

significantly better on memory tests than did non-caregivers followed over two

years. Though the groups were about the same average age, in their early to

mid-80s, caregivers scored at the level of people who were 10 years younger.

> >

> > Along with what's called " caregiver burden, " gerontologists and

psychologists use the phrase " caregiver gain " to reflect the fact that this

role, which often exacts such high costs, can bring rewards. But they've

typically described those rewards in psychological, emotional and even spiritual

terms: growing confidence in one's abilities, feelings of personal satisfaction,

increased family closeness. That caregivers can walk faster or recall more words

on a memory test †" that's news.

> >

> > Dr. Fredman has begun referring to this notion that caregivers are not

invariably beaten down by their responsibilities as the " healthy caregiver

hypothesis. " Taken together, her studies provide some evidence that caregivers,

however stressed, may be stronger and stay stronger than women of the same ages

who don't undertake those tasks. The interesting question is why.

> >

> > You can't randomize studies like this, assigning some old women to serve as

caregivers but not others. So it's likely that a big part of the differences,

Dr. Fredman said, stemmed from self-selection: Women become caregivers because

they are healthy enough to shoulder that responsibility. " If you're not

healthy, " she said, " it goes to your daughter or daughter-in-law. " It's not

surprising, therefore, that even high-intensity caregivers have and maintain

more physical strength.

> >

> > It's also true that Dr. Fredman's definition of a caregiver sets a fairly

low bar, including anyone who performs even one " instrumental activity of daily

living, " such as helping someone with bill-paying or phone use. Hands-on help

with bathing or toilet use is clearly more stressful, physically and

emotionally; caring for someone with dementia can be particularly arduous.

> >

> > But caregiving itself may provide real benefits. " Most caregiving activities

require you to move around a lot, " Dr. Fredman pointed out. " It keeps people on

their feet, up and going. " And exercise is known to improve physical health and

cognition.

> >

> > Moreover, Dr. Bertrand added: " Caregiving often requires complex thought.

Caregivers monitor medications, they juggle schedules, they may take over

financial responsibilities. " That, too, can ward off cognitive decline.

> >

> > Plus there's the whole matter of people benefiting from having a purpose.

It's hard to quantify, but it's real.

> >

> > So it's fair to say that the question of how caregiving impacts the

caregiver is more complicated and individual than we think. Both could be true,

the burdens and the benefits, depending on how demanding the job is and a host

of other factors.

> >

> > That caregiving is a very tough job is beyond debate. " We don't want to

overstate this and say it's good for caregivers and have governors across the

country rush to cut support programs that help families, " said Zarit, a

Penn State gerontologist who has studied caregiving. (Of course, governors seem

all too eager to do that anyway.)

> >

> > Still, " it may not be as predictive of their demise as previously thought, "

Dr. Bertrand said of elder care and caregivers. " There are potentially some

positive aspects. "

> >

> > .

> >

> >

>

>