It is no secret that caregiving is not an easy feat, especially for those who are caring for a loved one with dementia. A new study conducted by researchers from Penn State plans on deciphering whether adult day care can be beneficial for caregivers.The researches will collect saliva samples from caregivers eight days in a row to test for self-perceptions of stress and physiological stress. Half of the days the caregiver will bring their loved one to adult day care to see if there is a difference in stress levels.
"In many studies that test stress in individuals, the subjects might only have one day that they experience high stress," said lead researcher Steven Zarit. "In this experiment, though, participants will experience several days of high stress. This should give us a better understanding of the mechanism through which stress affects our health and it will be able to tell us what happens physiologically when someone reports having a good or bad day."
Those who are caring for an aging loved one may want to look into retirement living communities. Not only will seniors have the opportunity to be with peers, they will also get the around-the-clock care they need, which can give the caregiver some peace of mind.
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