"Family caregiving has its challenges: emotional overload, time constraints, anxiety, burnout, missed work, adult sibling conflicts, and marital issues. But caregivers also grow personally and spiritually by ensuring the well-being of a loved one. In AARP Meditations for Caregivers, clinical psychologists Barry J. Jacobs and Julia L. Mayer blend emotional and spiritual motivation to maximize the gains of caregiving while minimizing the strains. The book helps readers view their caregiving as a mission from the heart, complete with chapters on accepting your feelings, embracing rewards, seeking support, and managing stress. Each section offers three-part meditations for caregivers: an inspirational quote, an anecdote drawn from the authors' personal or clinical experience, and direct psychological or hands-on advice to foster coping and life satisfaction"--

For the caregiver, a book of daily meditations that provides comfort, insight, and wisdom.

Caring for a parent whose health is in decline turns the world upside down. The emotional fallout can be devastating, but it doesn't have to be that way. Empathic guidance from an expert who's been there can help. Through an account of two sisters and their ailing mother--interwoven with no-nonsense advice--The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers helps family members navigate tough decisions and make the most of their time together as they care for an aging parent. The author urges readers to be honest about the level of commitment they're able to make and emphasizes the need for clear communication within the family. While acknowledging their guilt, stress, and fatigue, he helps caregivers reaffirm emotional connections worn thin by the routine of daily care. This compassionate book will help families everywhere avoid burnout and preserve bonds during one of life's most difficult passages.

One in four American adult face the challenges of caring for an adult friend or relative. Although caregiving can be a richly rewarding and joyful experience, the role comes with enormous responsibilities-- and pressures. This gentle guide provides practical resources and tips that are easy to find when you need them, whether you're caregiving day to day, planning for future needs, or in the middle of a crisis. Goyer offers insight, inspiration, and poignant stories and experiences of caregivers, including her own as a live-in caregiver for her parents.

How much do you really know about how the human body works—how it reacts to food, exercise, nutrition, and the environment? While most of us have read about at least one fad diet, we're left wondering about the greater biochemistry, psychology, sociology, and physiology of the obesity crisis in the United States. Gut Reactions by chemist Simon Quellen Field shows us how our bodies react to food and the environment, how our brain affects what and how much we eat, and why some diets work for some people but not for others based on genetics, weight history, brain chemistry, environmental cues, and social pressures. It explores how our hormones affect hunger and satiety and interact with the brain and the gut, and it explains the addictive nature of foods that interact with the same dopamine and opioid receptors in the brain that cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, and nicotine do. Whether you're looking to lose weight, put on muscle mass, or simply understand how your metabolism or gut microbiome is affecting your food cravings, Field has a scientific answers for you.

Caregiving can be enormously challenging, terrifically rewarding, and potentially draining. Caregivers often wonder how they will navigate the tumultuous waters of caregiving and not lose themselves completely. The Mindful Caregiver highlights two major approaches to help transform the journey: adopting a practice of mindfulness, which helps caregivers become more self-aware and fully present with the person with whom they are caring, and honoring “the spirit-side” of caregiving which offers new ways of connecting to one another. These approaches take into account not just the needs of the care recipient, but also the needs of the caregiver and other people in his/her life. Remembering to care for oneself when someone else is in great need can be difficult, but with the suggestions and tips in this book, any caregiver can cultivate routines and practices that benefit everyone. Solutions that caregivers can use in their day to day routines are provided, so caregivers who use them can feel more empowered and hopeful. Using real stories throughout, Nancy Kriseman offers self-care exercises and addresses a wide variety of subjects such as setting realistic expectations, making the best possible decisions, advocating effectively, and evaluating available resources and services. The Mindful Caregiver provides inspiration, encouragement, and guidance for finding ease in the caregiving journey. By emphasizing both mindfulness and the spiritual dimension, caregivers can reap the gifts of caregiving, appreciate the special moments, and find strength during the challenging times.

Sustain loving relationships and set yourself up for emotional wellness in your fifties, sixties, and beyond with this valuable collection of advice from two psychology experts. "Drs. Mayer and Jacobs use their clinical wisdom and story-telling abilities to bring to life the challenges for couples as they age. Their advice will help strengthen long-term relationships to combat the rising trend of Gray Divorce."--Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, author of After the Affair and Life with Pop With couples divorcing at higher rates than any generation before, and longer lifespans leaving people unwilling to settle for an unsatisfying partner, it's more important than ever to refocus and strengthen your relationship. The only question is: how? In AARP Love and Meaning after 50, husband-wife psychologist team Julia Mayer and Barry Jacobs -- with 50+ years of experience between them -- identify the 10 most common challenges to sustain loving relationships: The Empty Nest * Extended Family * Finances * InfidelityRetirement * Downsizing and Relocating * SexHealth Concerns * Caregiving * Loss of Loved Ones AARP Love and Meaning after 50 offers insights and anecdotes, do it yourself assessments and follow-up exercises, and tips for connecting through the difficult times. With this book, you'll find deeper meaning and greater satisfaction for the decades ahead--together.