5 Self-Care Habits for Busy Caregivers

GE Privacy

Introduction: protecting your privacy, enhancing your online experience

When it comes to data privacy, protecting your personal information is most important. We feel it’s also important to give you, your colleagues, and your family members a voice in the development of this web site and your overall experience with it. To do this, we need to collect certain types of information to help us evaluate how the HealthAhead web site is being used, so we can continually improve your experience and the content we offer to you. By tracking overall usage patterns, providing an easy channel for your feedback, and allowing you to tell us what content is most useful to you, we can refine our offerings and provide more of the content you personally find valuable.

Overall, we are committed to giving you the option to participate – or not participate – in a manner that’s right for you. Read more for how we do this.

Information we collect and how we use it

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We will not collect any identifiable user information from the areas of the HealthAhead web site which do not require SSO (Single Sign On), unique User ID (Identification), and/or Password.

There are areas of the web site that require you to identify yourself to us (authenticate). This allows you to access certain parts of the web site that may otherwise be restricted for privacy and security purposes.

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When you visit the HealthAhead web site, we track, collect and report on certain aggregate and non- identifiable information. In other words, the information we collect does not relate to a single identifiable visitor. It tells us things such as how many users visited our web site and what pages they viewed.

This non-identifiable data will be collected and stored in a secure database in the U.S., and may be viewed by GE. We will analyze this information to refine our web site to better reflect user preferences, such as the type of content users are searching for most, and to improve the usability of the web site and the user’s web site experience. The information may also be used for purposes of promoting the web site. The data will not be used for medical analysis or other medical purposes.

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In the future, we may use cookies to track additional details, such as city and state.

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We also use Flash cookies on the web site to enhance your online experience. These are similar to browser cookies, but they store data more complex than simple text. Flash cookies, by themselves, cannot do anything to or with the data on your computer. In addition, Flash cookies cannot access or remember your email address or other personal information unless you provide the information on this web site.

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Certain pages on our web site contain “web beacons” (also known as Internet tags, pixel tags and clear GIFs). These web beacons obtain information such as the time the page was viewed, the type of browser used to view the page, and the information in cookies. Web beacon data does not include IP address. The web beacon data is stored at Google Analytics, a third party (see ‘Tracking and Reporting’ for more information on this technology).

Tracking and Reporting

Specifically we will track, collect and report on the following data using software from Google Analytics. For more information about Google Analytics, including information about how to opt out of these technologies, go to www.google-analytics.com

Our primary metrics include: Poll response rate, repeat visits, number of times content is shared, and visits by country.

The sub-metrics include:

Most Popular Content Types, Most Popular Content Topics, User Pathing, Exit Links, Bounce Rate, Traffic by Source (region), Time on Web site, Visit Time of Day, Unique Views/Page Views, Thumps Up/Down, Most Shared Content, Number of Times Content is Rated, Most Rated Content by Type, Language Selection.

We will also be tracking how much communicators, web site leaders and other HealthAhead operations teams are leveraging the web site to support and align their business, regional and web site specific efforts. Some of these metrics may be tracked using existing support central tools.

These metrics may include:

Number of Content Submissions by Region, Number of non-corporate Driven Promotions by RCs, Number of Promotional Downloads by Region, Support Central Survey

Feedback Form

Your feedback is important to the web site’s ongoing development, so we’d love to hear your opinions and ideas. To contact us, please use this Feedback form. We will not be able to respond directly, but all feedback will be reviewed, evaluated, and factored into future content decisions. Please note: this form is monitored by IT support staff only. Please do not submit any personal or medical information. And thank you in advance!

Poll and Quiz Responses

On the web site, we will conduct polls and quizzes to better understand user activities, attitudes, interests and knowledge across multiple health topics. These polls may also help us serve you better by asking questions that relate to the usefulness of our web site. We will not capture any personally identifiable information through the collection of poll response data. As part of these polls and quizzes, we will capture responses sorted by country. In the future, we may capture responses sorted by additional anonymous demographics such as language, affiliated GE business, work web site location, gender, etc.

Sharing Content with Family and Friends

We want you to share the web site’s content with important people in your life, so most articles, videos and slideshows can be emailed. To do so, we will ask you to provide your name and the recipient’s email address. We simply use this information to send the content as you request. At this time, we do not capture or store your, or the recipient’s, email address. Please see below to learn how we track and report on email sharing activity.

Please also review GE’s Social Media Guidelines

How we protect information

GE maintains administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect against unauthorized disclosure, use, alteration or destruction of any information you provide on this web site. We use secure socket layer (SSL) technology to help keep the information you provide on this web site secure. See ‘Information We Share’ and ‘Information We Transfer’ for additional details.

Information we share

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Information we transfer

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Links to other web sites

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Children’s privacy

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Updates to our privacy & data policy

This Privacy & Data Policy may be updated periodically and without prior notice to you to reflect changes in our online information practices. We will post a notice on this web site to notify you of any significant changes to our Privacy & Data Policy, and indicate at the top of this policy when it was most recently updated.

How to contact us

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy & Data Policy, or if you would like us to update information we have about you or your preferences, please contact us by visiting our Feedback Form.

5 Self-Care Habits for Busy Caregivers

Caring for a child, elderly parent, or other loved one can be very rewarding. But many caregivers struggle to balance the responsibilities of caregiving with their own physical and mental health needs. It may be especially difficult to make time for stress relief and other self-care habits while taking care of someone else.

To ensure that you’re considering your own needs as well as those of the person you care for, think about building these fast and simple healthy habits into your regular routine. They may help ease the strain of caregiving in just a few minutes per day.

Start each day in a calming way. Caregivers may feel like they’re always on the run once their day gets started. That makes the time before you start your caregiving duties all the more important. You can set the right tone for your day by beginning it with rhythmic breathing or meditation. According to the Mayo Clinic, meditation can be informal and tailored to suit your lifestyle.

Even if you have only five minutes to meditate before you jump into your day, it may help you build stressmanagement skills and reduce negative emotions. The easiest way to meditate is simply to sit quietly and observe your breath. You might also try repeating a calming word or phrase, known as a mantra. Some popular mantras include the sound “om” or the words “I am.”

Make the most of your “downtime.” While you may feel like you’re always “on duty” as a caregiver, there are likely opportunities built into your loved one’s schedule that create a logical time for you to take a break. For example, your child or elderly parent may take a daily hour-long nap. Instead of bustling around cleaning or trying to accomplish more, use the downtime to nurture yourself.

Enjoy a hot cup of tea, read a favorite novel, call a friend, or listen to music (with headphones, if needed) to give yourself a lift. Just a few minutes set aside for self-care may give you a boost that will help you feel better and more energetic during your caregiving activities.

Do something fun together. There’s no reason why caregiving has to be all work and no play. If you can plan to include some enjoyable activities in your daily routine, it can make the experience seem less taxing.

Fun and relaxing activities you may enjoy with your loved one could include going for a daily walk (even if you’re pushing your kids in a stroller), playing a board game, or watching a favorite TV show together. If you have friends or family members in common with the person you’re caring for, consider setting aside time each week to call a mutual friend or family member together.

Take a break. Everyone needs to take breaks from their work—especially caregivers. The Mayo Clinic notes that the demands of caregiving are both physical and emotional, and even strong and resilient people can feel taxed from these stresses. Therefore, it’s important to find ways to take a break and rejuvenate yourself on a regular basis.

You might accept help from a trusted friend to do a few tasks while you rest, or pay someone to care for your loved one while you visit the gym or spend time with friends. You might also consider joining a support group with others who are involved in a similar type of caregiving, whether that means other parents, those caring for people with a disability, or those caring for elderly family members. What’s important is that you carve out some time to step away from your responsibilities to focus on healthy selfcare activities.

Call it a night. Sleep is vital for optimum health, yet the Mayo Clinic reports that people who are stressed—such as those with caregiving duties—often fail to get enough shut-eye. When you let your caregiving job take precedence over your sleep, it can lead to a negative mood, decreased energy, lessened concentration, and worse overall functioning. This is not a good prescription for healthy caregiving!

Instead, arrange your caregiving schedule so that you can get to bed on time, even if this means encouraging your loved one to go to bed early. Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep, which is the recommended amount for adults according to the Mayo Clinic. And leave yourself enough time to wind down before sleep by creating a regular, soothing bedtime routine.

HealthAhead Hint: Your Self-Care Counts Too!
There’s no doubt that caregivers have busy schedules, but by focusing on some fast and simple stressrelief activities, you can improve your health and quality of life. Make these five habits a healthy part of your routine, either while your loved one is occupied, with your loved one, or at the start or end of your day. By taking care of yourself now, you’ll increase your chances of staying healthy over the long-term to help those you care about most.