Dementia Sleep Disorder

Aging is often associated with sleep disorders, and as people age less sleep is needed, their sleep disturbances may involve many factors other than just age, physical causes may be involved such as  illness, pain, grief, anxiety and  medication . Dementia usually manifests around the same period as the sleep disorders, that is around the sixth decade of life,  the presence of dementia exacerbates any age related sleep disorder.

There are many different types of dementia, the most common being Alzheimer's disease which causes a progressive loss of mental function with a decreased production of the neurotransmitter acetycholine. Sleep disturbances associated with the various types of dementia include insomnia with night wandering, mild to severe agitation, restlessness, combativeness, emotional instability, and suspiciousness, mania is less common in Alzheimer's.

Pictures of Alzheimer's Disease in progress, showing narrowed gyri, widened sulci, and cortical atrophy.

Patients who have Alzheimer's Disease suffer severe sleep disturbances, most of their sleep time is spent in stage 1, their REM sleep decreases and continues to decrease as their dementia progresses. They experience many arousals and awakenings, and any other physical complaints they may have, particularly respiratory disorders will further add to their sleep disorder.

There are numerous difficulties for those caring for patients with dementia, the night time wanderings of these patients result in disturbed sleep and added stress for the carers, and there is the ever present danger of dementia patients with sleep disorders posing a danger to themselves from falls.

The problem for the carers is to contain the patient in a safe and non threatening environment, without causing stress to the patient by giving them the impression they are living in a jail. Those patients who act out their dreams may pose a threat to their partner, and the household.

  Exactly how this acting out manifests will determine the level of danger. Some patients may actively kick and punch their partner, causing extensive bruising and stress which may ultimately necessitate the patient's containment in suitable care. Others have been known to light fires in the early hours of the morning, and old war veterans may act out their long repressed war memories, with grave consequences for their partner or the rest of the household.

If dementia sleep disorder patients are placed in a nursing home, their behavior is usually controlled with sedatives which allows for the relatively smooth operation of the dementia unit. Sadly patients whose mental functions are already compromised by their disease, will only have their condition worsened by sedatives.

It is important that dementia patients who have sleep disorder eat a healthy diet, maintain a regular routine throughout the day involving walks, and any other activities which will occupy their minds preventing them from napping during the daylight hours. Allowing them to nap during the day will only add to night time sleep disruption for the household.

While these measures may be easy to implement if the carer is a young person, however, many elderly persons with dementia sleep disorder are cared for by a partner who is both frail and possibly suffering from other physical ailments themselves. For the elderly carer there really is no other option open to them other than placing their partner in a nursing home, for dealing with a partner's dementia sleep disorder will most likely cause further deterioration to their own health. Read more:Aromatherapy in Dementia