The ice and snow have melted, and the warm, brighter days of spring are not far away. This week's stress relief photo was taken in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. Caregiverlist invites you to enjoy the photo and share it with loved ones. At Caregiverlist we know the realities of caregiver stress. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for your hard work and caring for our seniors. Please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools. We hope you have a great week.

The beach is known as a relaxing place, but it is especially so when you have it all to yourself. This week's stress relief photo was taken in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just as a new day was beginning. Caregiverlist invites you to enjoy the photo and share it with loved ones. At Caregiverlist we know the realities of caregiver stress. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for your hard work and caring for our seniors. Please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools. We hope you have a great week.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Natural Museum of Korea, thousands upon thousands of works of art across various mediums fill galleries worldwide. The Artsy app eliminates the requirement of traveling extensively across the globe to experience museums by placing entire galleries at your fingertips. Senior caregivers can see art as a form of stress relief as well as a way to connect with senior clients. 

When users first download the Artsy app, they are greeted with a homepage featuring a slideshow across the top and featured "Current Shows" below. For its design, the app gives off a modern art museum guide feel with a clean cut black and white navigation area and a single rotating thin black bar when a new page loads. The content-heavy app feels easy to navigate with the static bottom bar listing the different categories. 

The app features almost too many different ways to access content, including search by name or city of the museum, viewing a list of current shows or the top 50 shows of the moment, and browsing the in-app version of the magazine. Caregivers might find it easiest to start with a museum familiar to his/her senior client, such as one near a city where he/she grew up. That way senior clients can share commentary on installations they've seen before in the permanent collections as well as flip through an exhibit they might not be able to visit in person. 

The level of detail within the app is nearly unparalleled. As users delve into the specific exhibits at a particular museum, they will find much of the same descriptive information about a painting that they would from standing next to it in the exhibit. Individual museums have a list and summary of "All Shows" that have been part of the app, specific "Works" featured, items from their "Shop," "Articles" about the installations and "Contact information." 

The level of content may seem overwhelming, but senior caregivers and their clients can make a hobby to "visit" a different city within the app each month. You'll quickly find you've gone on a cultural trot around the globe and through time from the comfort of your own couch. If caregivers create a free account within the app, they can save works and artists to their favorites to revisit later. Senior caregivers could even put together a virtual gallery of a senior client's personal favorites within the app to share with loved ones. 

Waking up in the morning after sleeping the whole night and feeling tired anyways feels like you've been cheated by nature somehow. Understanding your natural sleep cycles along with the proper amount of sleep you should get in a night helps senior caregivers feel more refreshed and prepared for the day. The Sleep Time app provides users with the ability to set an alarm to wake them up during the lightest part of their sleep cycle. 

When caregivers first create an account, the Sleep Time app tracks their sleeping patterns for the first few nights and establishes when the user is in their deepest sleep. The app uses movement detected by the phone to help determine this so users need to keep their phone on their mattress. The alarm portion of the app is set for a half an hour window. The app determines when you are in your lightest sleep cycle within that half an hour and wakes you up gradually then. 

A main page displays the current time and the alarm options for users to choose from. Users indicate if they've had caffeine, ate late, worked out, had a stressful day, consumed alcohol or are not sleeping in their bed before setting their alarm so the app can make informed conclusions about their sleep cycle. 

To help users who live in noisy environments fall asleep peacefully at night, the Soundscapes feature provides noise such as Gentle Waves for a user selected period of time. Additional Soundscape options are available in the paid version of the app. Users also may adjust volume level and settings such as whether or not to start a Soundscape when the alarm is set. 

Getting enough sleep contributes to stress relief as well as mental and physical wellness. For caregivers in particular, taking time to unwind and get full rest every night plays a big part in maintaining a stressful lifestyle. If you're having issues sleeping through the night or waking up tired regularly, try to avoid caffeine and other stimulants too close to bedtime. 

The Sleep Time App is available for Apple and Android platforms. 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Caregiving provides a heavy stress load between caring for senior clients and managing the other aspects of daily life. Caregivers might find that they occasionally feel anxious over their responsibilities, so the Pacifica app provides a tool to track daily mood and help aide relaxation. 

When users first create an account with Pacifica, the app presents three options for an initial goal. Users can ether aim to feel less anxiety throughout the day, feel less anxiety in social situations or reduce anxiety attacks. Once a goal is established, the app takes users through a guided tutorial and set up of the app. Each day, the app sends mood reminder notifications for a users to select how they feel. It uses a sliding scale from "Awful" to "Great" and offers more descriptive words such as "Lonely" or "Inspired" for users to choose from below. The mood tracker allows users to see the fluctuations or patterns of how they feel over the weeks. Tracking mood around the same time every day can help caregivers notice when they feel particularly stressed or anxious and better prepare to deal with what causes that. 

The main area of the app provides Daily Activities for caregivers to complete. The main activity is "Relax" for daily meditation. It guides users through a set of breathing exercises with calming noises in the background. The deep breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth counteracts the short, shallow breathing that occurs with anxiety. Caregivers can use the exercises in the morning or at night to prepare for the upcoming day or let go of the stress from a long day before bed. 

Other features include Thought Analysis, which allows users to record their thoughts when their mind is racing and helps users recognize the thought patterns that contribute to their anxiety. The Daily Experiments area provides small suggestions for actions to accomplish longer term goals when it comes to facing anxiety. 

The Pacifica app is available for Apple and Android platforms.

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Caregivers have a lot to balance between caring for their senior client and taking care of their personal lives. Particularly for caregivers who work with multiple senior clients, remembering and prioritizing every task can be difficult. The Centrallo app offers an organizational tool for important e-mails, to do lists, notes, etc. 

When users first launch the Centrallo app, it takes a minute to tap around and figure out all the different categories and how all the information is stored within. The first area within the app works as an inbox for important e-mails and information. When a user thinks of something they'll need to remember later on the go, they can create a new inbox note for later viewing. Every note and list item within the app offers the ability to attach a picture, an outside file or even a voice memo. Unlike other organizational apps, this feature allows users to store all pertinent information and files in one to do note and prioritize it for later use. For senior caregivers in particular, this app gives the ability to store an important document needed for a doctor's visit electronically or snap a photo while out and about to later share with a senior client's loved ones.

The other main area of the app consists of lists for users to create and use for themselves or share with others. Senior caregivers could again use this feature to share a to do list with loved ones of a senior client to note that they picked up a prescription but you're taking the client to a doctor's appointment, etc. The list area is slightly counterintuitive in that items cannot be marked as completed by tapping on the circle to the left of each item, but instead by swiping left on the line and selecting the check mark that appears. Once an items has been completed, it stays on the list screen but appears with a strike out line through it. 

Inbox items and list items appear on the priority screen when a user selects the star icon on the individual item. They also appear highlighted in read on the list screen for quick self organization when deciding which task to complete. Overall, the Centrallo app provides an organized way for caregivers to keep track of to do lists, important emails and upcoming appointments. 

The Centrallo app is available for Apple and Android platforms.

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Getting to sleep and sleeping through the entire night to wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day can be tougher than it sounds. Especially for senior caregivers who work stressful jobs, sleep is important to refresh and recharge for the next day. Whether you have trouble turning off your continuously running thoughts to fall asleep, often wake up in the middle of the night or wake up feeling just as tired as when you fell asleep, the Sleepio app can help. Sleepio asks specific questions to analyze your personal sleep quality and suggests changes for improvement. 

New users are greeted by a cartoon professor upon downloading and opening the new app. He explains overall purpose of the app then leads the user through questions to diagnose what specific problems you experience, i.e. getting to sleep, staying asleep, etc. The app also looks for information on how frequently your sleep is disrupted and how long you've experienced the same issues, then it assigns a sleep score to determine your overall quality of sleep based on your responses. Users who have an outside program such as FitBit that tracks their sleep for them can also import the data into Sleepio for a more personalized recommendation. 

Once users have gone through about ten minutes of intro questions and set up, the program finalization is done. There are two options for users to choose from- during the day, or a sleep session. The beginning of the sleep program describes how sleep is affected by emotions and stress, and then the guided personal suggestions begin. The app talks users through negative thoughts, unhealthy behaviors, daily schedule and lifestyle changes over a six week program. 

The Sleepio app is free for Apple products and offers a seven day trial for new users. After that, to continue the program users must pay a subscription fee. 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discover additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

Just being near the water on a beautiful evening can be relaxing. This week's stress relief photo was taken in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on a summer evening. Caregiverlist invites you to enjoy the photo and share it with loved ones. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for caring for our seniors. Remember to take a moment for yourselves. Please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools. Have a great week. 

"I can be changed by what happens to me but I refuse to be reduced by it." -Maya Angelou

As summer slips away it is time to savor the late afternoon sun and the golden hue it casts over the world. This week's photo was taken along the southern coast of Wales in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. Caregiverlist invites you to enjoy the photo and share it with loved ones. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for caring for our seniors. Caregivers employed with senior care companies know the realities of caregiver stress. Senior care training assists caregivers to better manage a senior's care needs and manage caregiver stress. Have a great week. 

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up.

Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."  -Michael Jordan