★As parents gradually age, a silent crisis is unfolding: behind every elderly person who can no longer care for themselves, there must be a caregiver. In an aging Asia, this role often falls upon the children themselves.
★ The pressures of societal reality versus the exhaustion of continuous care, and the persistence of maintaining filial piety versus the strain on one’s own physical and mental health, are realities that anyone may face. The author became a caregiver for a father with dementia at the age of 24. This book recounts a true caregiving journey, sincerely sharing how to balance caring for others with loving oneself, while exploring themes of love, loss, and resilience.
★ The author is a Singapore-based expert in mindfulness and sleep health. In addition to providing caregivers with profound understanding and support, the author utilizes professional expertise and practice to offer scientific methods for mindfulness and restorative sleep, practically helping caregivers improve their sleep, overcome burnout, and achieve inner peace.
★ Focusing on the caregiver crisis in an aging Asia, this book reveals cultural pressures such as filial piety, "saving face," and guilt. It emphasizes the core value of self-care: "You must take care of yourself first before you can take care of others."

What happens when the person who gives the most has nothing left to give?

At just 24, long before Eric Lim felt ready, his father developed dementia after a series of strokes, and with astonishing honesty, he recounts the heart-wrenching reversal of roles, caring for the parent who once cared for him, and explores love, loss and resilience.

Across an ageing Asia, a silent crisis unfolds: behind every elderly person who can no longer care for themselves stands a caregiver. This book is for the ones who hold everyone together while no one holds them, who answer every need but their own, and have forgotten themselves.

Nurturing the Nurturer is your invitation to look within. It uncovers the quiet forces that keep caregivers giving beyond their limits: filial duty, the fear of losing face, the guilt that follows even the smallest moment of rest. And it offers another way.

Drawing on mindfulness and restorative slumber, Eric offers a science-based approach to the roots of sleep deprivation, with tools and practices to lead you out of the maze and into the rest you need and deserve.

But this book goes beyond sleep. It is about reclaiming your life, peace of mind and ability to thrive in the toughest of times. It is a homage to the enduring tenacity of the human spirit and those who care for loved ones.

Above all, it is a meditation on a timeless truth: to care for a loved one, you must first care for yourself.

Eric Lim
Eric Lim is a mindfulness and sleep wellness expert based in Singapore. Over the past decade, he has guided more than 10,000 individuals, including business leaders, working professionals and youth in cultivating rest, resilience and a more mindful way of living.
His interest in mindfulness began in university, but it was his personal journey as a caregiver for his late father, who suffered three strokes and developed vascular dementia, that gave it deeper meaning.
Navigating long nights, emotional exhaustion and the quiet grief of caregiving, he discovered the power of presence and the importance of rest.
Born and raised in Singapore, Eric honours the deep-rooted values of family and duty that shaped him. Yet he also challenges the silence around caregiver burnout, sleep deprivation and mental fatigue - issues often overlooked in Asian society.
As a certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher and the second in Singapore to be certified by the Mindfulness Center at Brown University School of Public Health, Eric's approach is rooted in both formal training and lived experience.
In 2017, he received the Ministry of Health's SHMDP Fellowship during his time at a mental health charity, and was also honoured with the AWWA Young Model Caregiver (Merit) Award. His expertise has been featured in national media including CNA, The Straits Times, and radio stations.
Now, as co-founder of Somnus Sleep Wellness, he continues to advocate for satisfying, sustainable sleep and mental well-being across Asia. His quiet belief: the one who nurtures also deserves to be nurtured.