Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Dr. Meenal Agarwal 0:00
Let’s be squeezed in a healthier way, and let’s be squeezed such that we are still prioritizing ourselves and taking care of ourselves. This is Dr Meenal, and welcome to Uncover Your Eyes, where we uncover reality. As a mom and eye doctor, I want to know it all. We are the sandwich generation, the generation that is generally between the ages of 35 to 54 and we are struggling caring about our aging parents and our growing children, not to mention work and all the additional things that we care and stress about, the pressure of being the great parent, the great child and the great colleague at work, and just being the overall great human being is A lot we are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed, tired, everything. According to the 2007 American Psychological Association’s stress survey, mothers in the sandwich generation experienced more stress than any other age group, and two in five. That’s 40% of men and women in that age group felt overextended, compared to 29% in the younger age group and 25% in the older age group. That’s a lot. This is affecting us. It’s taking a toll on our personal relationships as well. 83% say relationships with their spouse, children, family members is the leading cause of their stress, and that takes a toll on our mental health well being as we struggle to not only take care of those relationships and them, but ourselves. So what can we do? I think firstly, we need to identify those stressors. I don’t like to call them triggers. I like to call them stressors because they’re stress factors. They’re factors that are increasing our stress levels, whether it’s a certain member of the family, our finance, whether it’s our work life. For me, it was work. It was micromanaging, which is, I’m a micromanager my work, and that was really stressing me out, identifying that was very difficult for me, and learning to deal with it and cope with it, and changing myself to not be, you know, a micromanager was huge. But once I recognized that and worked on that, it really changed my life, and now I can confidently say it’s not one of my biggest stressors. Once you’ve identified your stressor, recognizing how to deal with it in a healthy way, too many of us take those stressors and manage it in unhealthy ways, whether it’s binge eating, you know, closing ourselves in our room, not talking to anyone you know, not having healthy relationships with others, there’s so much of that, and we need to turn that into managing those stressors in a healthier way, whether that means eating healthier, sleeping longer, sleeping earlier, staying hydrated, physical exercise, or, you know, activities, being more social, talking to others more connecting with friends, more connecting with healthy relationships, relationships that make us feel good, spending more time at home, if that means work is stressing you out, these are the ways we can manage our stressors in a healthier fashion, to help reduce that mental load and taking time for yourself, taking care of yourself. If you do not take care of yourself, you cannot take care and be a successful sandwich generation caregiver. You cannot take care of your children and your aging parents if you can’t take care of yourself first, and of course, asking for support, whether that means asking for support of your family members your friends, and even asking for support from healthcare providers talking to people, opening that conversation is huge, and it’s no longer taboo, like talking to others or healthcare providers used to be thought of as parents, often put their needs of their family members first, not ourselves. But remember, your children are modeling what you’re doing. And if we can model healthy behaviors, healthier ways to cope with our stress levels and healthier ways to take care of ourselves, first, our children will model that as well, and they will learn to take care of themselves in a healthy fashion as well. So being caught in. That sandwich generation is so so difficult, but learning to make those changes, identifying those stressors first and then making those changes and coping with everything much better will not only affect our mental health, our well being, but also positively impact the relationships that matter to us and are around us. So I can confidently say I am also part of the sandwich generation. I am that cheese or the lettuce or the tomato, which I don’t like, caught in between the two slices of bread in the sandwich, and definitely being squeezed to the max. But let’s be squeezed in a healthier way, and let’s be squeezed such that we are still prioritizing ourselves and taking care of ourselves. So to our sandwich generation here is to healthier lifestyle changes that put us first. Thank you, listeners and viewers, for tuning in. If you want to catch more episodes of Uncover Your Eyes, make sure to Follow or Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube. To learn more about me, follow me on Instagram @Dr.MeenalAgarwal Until next time, keep those eyes uncovered!