1 Hearing from those who know
While generic advice about health and wellbeing is useful, hearing what someone else in a similar situation to you finds works for them can be invaluable.
Activity 1 Advice about looking after yourself
In this video Gail draws on her own experiences of caring and of working with many family carers of older people with learning disabilities to reflect on what might help carers to look after themselves. Make some notes if you wish.

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Gail emphasises knowing what your rights are, having a break from caring, having someone to offload to and giving yourself permission to be selfish. You will probably also already be aware of the importance of eating a healthy balanced diet, getting enough sleep and exercise. Another point you might have picked up is that self-care can be practiced in many ways. Some of the ways might be fairly quick and easy – taking a minute here or there to relax, engaging in a mindfulness activity or exercise, noticing the sounds around you and in taking a short break from the busy world we live in. Choose which works best for you and do not forget to use it!
It is important to know resources about self-care that are available to you. Some examples are set out below:
- Nutrition [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
- Social stimulation
- Cognitive stimulation
- Physical activity for carers
- Physical activity for health and wellbeing in the caring role
- Midlife MOT: wealth, work and wellbeing (especially the wellbeing audit section)