Common Sleep Problems In Elderly Patients With Dementia
Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome are all frequent sleep disturbances in people with dementia. Yelling at night or talking in their sleep may also occur in dementia patients, and it could indicate an underlying health problem or pain they cant communicate verbally during waking hours.
Some nighttime dementia behaviors can be especially upsetting for sleep-deprived caregivers and potentially dangerous for dementia patients. Sundowningsymptoms, such as increased agitation and restlessness, generally begin later in the day and can contribute to sleeplessness at night. Someone with dementia may wander or try to leave their home. This could be because theyre unable to recognize their surroundings and are looking for something familiar to orient themselves.
Professional Help With Dementia Sleep Issues
Dementia is a disease that commonly affects an elderly adults sleep cycle. Experts still dont know precisely why dementia patients dont sleep but believe its linked to brain alterations. Other dementia sleep issues like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome can also make it difficult for loved ones with dementia to fall asleep or stay asleep at night.
If your loved one with dementia struggles with sleep and youre wondering how to keep dementia patients in bed at night, you may want to try:
- Keeping them on a consistent schedule
- Ensuring they exercise regularly
- Creating a calming nighttime routine
Theres also overnight dementia care for family caregivers looking for professional, hands-on assistance.
Stowell Associates in Wisconsin is a premier in-home dementia care provider. We train and equip both our Care Managers and Caregivers to handle the demands of dementia care. With our 24-hour care service, your loved one will receive the best care during the day and nighttime hours. It will also provide you with peace of mind knowing your loved one is receiving the care they need.
Contact us today to talk with a Care Advisor. Theyll help you better understand all the benefits of full-time dementia care.
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Common Sleep Problems In People With Dementia
Sleep changes are common in older adults with and without dementia. Many seniors experience changes in the quality of their sleep, the number of hours they sleep, and how much time they spend awake at night. In fact, older adults total sleep time decreases by about 30 minutes per decade starting in middle age.
Sleep problems are even more common in people with dementia. The type and severity of sleep disturbances may vary depending on the cause of your loved ones dementia and the stage of their disease. Sleep problems associated with dementia tend to get worse as the disease progresses.
Your loved one with dementia may experience the following sleep problems:
- Difficulty maintaining or falling asleep, which can be caused by insomnia, problems with the sleep cycle, side effects of medication, or other factors.
- Sundown syndrome, which is common in people with Alzheimers and other forms of dementia, can contribute to problems with sleep. Sundown syndrome refers to increased confusion, agitation, anxiety, and aggression in the evening or during the night.
- Problems with movement during sleep, such as restless legs syndrome which is characterized by an uncomfortable urge to move the legs during periods of rest or rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, which makes people act out their dreams.
- Damage to brain cells caused by dementia
- Changes in sleep pattern caused by dementia
- Mental health conditions, such as depression
- Other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea
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Check For Other Medical Conditions
Both sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are associated with increasing age and have symptoms which will easily wake someone with dementia. To identify if your parent or partner has sleep apnea, you may have to watch them while they sleep. Someone with this condition will pause when they breathe, almost momentarily stopping breathing. This momentary lack of air can wake someone up, and is really quite frightening for the person sleeping next to them as they wait for the next breath.
If your parent/partner suffers from restless leg syndrome they move or twitch their legs uncontrollably, especially during the evenings and night-time. They may also experience tingling, burning and fizzing sensations in their legs too. Symptoms can be relieved by rubbing and stretching legs – but it can be so bad that it wakes the person up. If you discover that your parent/partner has either of these medical conditions, its wise to see a GP and ask for help.
Sleep Medications And Alzheimers
If your loved oneâs doctor prescribes medicine to help them rest, theyâll probably start at the lowest dose possible and stop the drugs as soon as sleep patterns improve.
Medications include:
- Tricyclic antidepressants such as nortriptyline and trazodone
- Sleeping pills such as zaleplon and zolpidem
Doctors also sometimes prescribe drugs called antipsychotics such as risperidone . They can be helpful, but they also might increase the risk of death in some people with dementia. Youâll want to talk carefully with your loved oneâs doctor about this medicine before they take it.
Just as Alzheimerâs sleep problems can change over the years, so do the ways you can handle it. Always talk to your doctor about which options are best.
Read Also: How To Talk To Someone With Early Dementia
Provide Comfort And Familiarity
Think back to the last time you were sick. Chances are, you wanted to be surrounded by comforting thoughts, things, and people. For someone with dementia, the world can become a scary place. Comfort and familiarity can help them cope with this difficult time in life.
Help fill your loved ones life and home with things they find comforting. If they move into a hospital or assisted living facility, furnish the space around them with cherished items. For example, bring their favorite blanket or family photos to the new facility. This may help ease the transition and curb some of their sundowning symptoms.
How To Improve Problems With Dementia And Sleep
The exact approach will depend on which underlying factors are causing the problems. Still, certain general approaches have been found to improve the sleep of many with dementia. These include:
- Outdoor light or bright light therapy during the day Bright outdoor light helps keep the circadian signals on track. For older adults who cant get outside for at least an hour per day, bright light therapy with a special lamp might help. A study found that bright light therapy in Alzheimers patients improved sleep.
- Increasing daytime physical activity Research has suggested that walking during the day can help improve nighttime sleep in people with Alzheimers.
- Optimizing environmental cues for sleep This means keeping the sleeping environment dark and quiet at night. This is especially important in nursing homes, which have sometimes been found to have staff active at night.
- Establishing a regular routine with a consistent wake-up time The ideal is to have a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, but many experts believe its best to start by focusing on a consistent wake-up time.
A research study published in 2005 found that training dementia caregivers to use these techniques in combination led to improved sleep of the care recipients with Alzheimers.
Read Also: How To Help An Elderly Parent With Dementia
Dementia And Sleep Issues
Dementia and sleep issues typically take a toll on both the patient and their caregiver. Falling and staying asleep becomes increasingly difficult for elderly adults with dementia and when a loved one with dementia is up at night, so are their caregivers.
Understanding the underlying causes of sleep issues can help you identify methods and treatments for helping a dementia patient rest through the night.
What Sleep Problems Can Be Caused By Dementia What Sleep Problems Can Be Caused By Dementia
Insomnia Insomnia.
Insomnia includes a wide range of sleep problems, such as taking a long time to fall asleep, waking up often during the night, having nightmares and waking up early in the morning. These result in the person not getting enough good-quality sleep.
Insomnia is a common problem for people with dementia, and different causes include the following:
- The person may be struggling with pain or discomfort.
- They may have other health conditions that make sleep more difficult, such as heart or breathing problems, heartburn, constipation, urinary tract infections or incontinence.
- They may be feeling anxious, stressed or depressed.
- They may be taking medications that cause insomnia as a side effect. This is common with drugs prescribed to improve dementia symptoms, such as donepezil, rivastigmine, or galantamine.
These drugs can also lead to very vivid dreams or nightmares. If this happens, they may find taking their medication in the morning rather than at bedtime helps.
There are drugs that can help a person get to sleep more easily. However, most have unpleasant or potentially dangerous side effects, such as dizziness and an increased risk of falls. This makes them less safe for a person with dementia to take. They tend to only be prescribed for very short-term use when the person has severe sleep problems.
Excessive daytime sleepiness Excessive daytime sleepiness.
For more information on hallucinations and delusions see Changes in perception.
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Consider Melatonin To Help With Sleep
Melatonin is a gentle, natural food supplement. It can help anyone fall and stay asleep, but a 2014 review found that it could help reduce agitation at night and improve sleep in people with dementia.
Even though its available over the counter, be sure to chat with your loved ones doctor before giving them melatonin. A doctor can make sure its advisable for their needs.
How To Get An Elderly Parent With Dementia To Sleep At Night
Do you have a parent that has dementia and never sleeps? As soon as they lay down, they for help. You need some sleep, too! Heres what you can do.
Sleep issues and dementia often go hand in hand, especially when awareness of time and time of day deteriorate. As the rest of the household beds down, there are fewer cues and reminders about whats going on and what to do next, which can be quite anxiety-provoking to a confused person.
In the search for reassuring stimulation, people with dementia may get up and start wandering . This behavior can be difficult to change, and may result in prescriptions for sleeping pillswhich often lead to other problems.
Before taking that step, its worth trying some classic sleep hygiene measures. Make sure your mother gets adequate exercise during the day to ensure that shell be tired by bedtime. To the degree possible, urge your mother to avoid sleeping during the day. Avoid heavy meals or caffeine use for several hours before bedtime. Ditto for emotionally charged discussions or upsetting television shows.
Try to establish going-to-bed routines and stick to them as best you can.
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How Does Sleep Affect Dementia Risk
Experts suggest that sleep and dementia may share a bidirectional relationship. This means that while sleep could affect dementia risk and symptoms, the presence or absence of dementia also affects sleep quality. For example, one of the first Alzheimers disease symptoms in the brain is the accumulation of a protein called amyloid-beta, which eventually forms clumps called amyloid plaques. Animal studies and a small study in people have shown sleep deprivation to increase the levels of amyloid-beta in the brain. At the same time, Alzheimers patients with amyloid plaques have been shown to have worse sleep quality than Alzheimers patients who do not have amyloid plaques.
Additionally, sleep is known to be critical for our cognitive functioning and memory formation. Observational studies have shown that sleep issues are associated with cognitive decline and dementia. However, these studies do not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. Although more research is needed to better understand sleep and dementia risk, there are many proven steps you can take to improve your sleep.
What To Do If A Person With Dementia Spends A Lot Of Time Sleeping
If the individual has advanced dementia and has progressively begun sleeping more, it is most probably attributable to the dementia advancing.
Nevertheless, if extreme sleeping begins suddenly or the person does not appear to be in good health in other respects, there might be another reason.
In this case, you should see a physician to clear out whatever diseases or conditions that are affecting the persons sleep. Its also worth requesting a medication review from your doctor or chatting with a pharmacist, as medications might have a variety of negative effects.
Sleeping more throughout the day isnt usually a cause for concern if the person doesnt look to be restless or troubled.
However, if a person spends most of their time in bed sleeping, they will require special attention to avoid developing physical health concerns. In a care home or hospice, care and support professionals usually provide this type of care. However, if the individual is still living at home, you should get guidance from your doctor or nurse on how to proceed.
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Legal And Financial Planning For Dementia
It is common for dementia patients to require nursing home care as the disease progresses.
Unfortunately, the cost of nursing home care is incredibly expensive.
In Michigan, the average cost of a nursing home is between $8,000-$9,000 per month. Many families worry about spending their entire life savings and losing the family home just to pay for nursing home costs.
Fortunately, you can protect your savings and home from nursing home costs by qualifying for nursing home benefits to pay for care.
To find out how, please read this article
If you already know that you want nursing home benefits to pay for care, please call our office at 613-0007 to schedule a free initial case evaluation to find out if we can help you qualify.
Schedule a free case evaluation to see if we can help you qualify for Nursing Home Benefits! Call us now at 613-0007.
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Supporting A Person With Dementia And Sleep Disturbance
Sleep problems tend to become more common and more severe as dementia progresses. They can happen daily, and last for a long time. The growing exhaustion can affect the person with dementia and you, their carer.
Over time the person will need more support, especially if your own sleep is often disturbed. If the person you care for is frequently up in the night, it may be possible to have a night sitter.
This is a carer who will look after the person with dementia at night, to help you to have a good night’s sleep. A person with dementia and severe sleep problems may need to be cared for by a live-in or visiting carer, or in residential care.
Care homes: When is the right time and who decides?Care homes: When is the right time and who decides? .
Read our advice and practical tips for carers on when is the right time for a person with dementia to be moved to a care home.
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What Should I Do If A Person With Dementia Is Sleeping A Lot
If the person is in the later stages of dementia and they have gradually started sleeping more and more, it is likely to be due to the dementia progressing.
However, if the excessive sleeping has started more suddenly, or the person doesnt seem well in other ways, it may have another cause.
If this is the case you should speak to the GP, to rule out any infections or conditions that could be affecting the person’s sleep. It may also be worth asking for a medication review with the GP or speaking to a pharmacist as medication can cause a range of side effects.
Providing the person doesnt appear to be uncomfortable or distressed, then sleeping more during the day isnt normally a reason to be worried.
However, if a person is lying down in bed and asleep for most of the time they will need to be looked after to make sure they dont develop any physical health problems. This sort of care is normally done by a health or social care professional in a care home or hospice. If the person is still living at home though, then its important to get advice from your GP or nurse on how best to do this.
Consume Plenty Of Fluids
Its critical for people living with dementia to keep hydrated. Dehydration can lead to more disorientation and ailments like urinary tract infections .
To prevent getting up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, it is better to promote the intake of most regular fluids, especially during the early hours of the day. If the person you care about likes a cup of tea in the evening, consider switching to decaf.
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How To Help Someone With Dementia Sleep
People with dementia often experience sleep disturbances.
They may have trouble getting to sleep or wake up frequently during the night. Being tired can make an older adult irritable and increase instances of challenging behaviors, like aggression. Not only do unwanted behaviors make the job of being a family caregiver more difficult, but the lack of sleep could leave you feeling exhausted. Fortunately, there are things you can do to improve sleep in an older adult with dementia. Below are some tips that may help.
Elderly Care in Springfield PA: Dementia Sleep Disturbances
Talk to the Doctor
Tell your aging relatives doctor about their sleep problems. There may be an underlying physical problem that is making it hard to sleep, like a urinary tract infection or restless leg syndrome. Treating those problems can alleviate sleep issues. Even if there is not a health problem causing the sleeplessness, the doctor may be able to help with sleep medications or other strategies.
Increase Activity During the Day
Being more physically active during the day can help to tire out the older adult, making it easier for them to sleep at night. Try going for a couple of short walks each day. You can also involve the senior in household tasks that require movement. Not only will it help to tire them, it can also make them feel useful and give them a sense of purpose, which may alleviate boredom and frustration.
Increase Light Exposure
Stick to a Schedule