Roughly one in five American adults is now where I was: responsible for the care of a chronically ill or disabled loved one. About half of them are doing this work for elderly relatives. It is well known that family caregivers are at higher risk than noncaregivers for depression. But such helpers also have more than their share of diabetes, asthma, obesity and a variety of pain conditions. And they tend to die earlier. In a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in 2024, caregivers scored worse than noncaregivers on 13 of 19 health indicators. The root cause, research shows, is chronic stress. It leads not only to mental distress but also, by hampering the immune system, to physical ailments.