Carers of elderly people with dementia are all too familiar with the disrupted sleep patterns of dementia patients. As people age sleep patterns may change, either because of retirement, illness, drugs taken to treat the illness, and death of lifelong partner, these may be only some of the reasons sleep does not come easily to the elderly.
If dementia is added to the mix of already disrupted sleep patterns, treatment for the condition should be sought as soon as possible in order to alleviate the stress experienced by the patient, as well as the carers. Elderly people with dementia living in a family environment place a huge burden on those close to them, their night time wanderings, and sometimes violent behavior can cause turmoil in a household whose members have to work the next day.
Dementia patients in nursing homes are sedated and usually placed in beds with safety rails to prevent accidents, however this is not easy to implement in the home environment.Containing a demented patient in the home environment in order to avoid accidents, requires the carer to sacrifice their own sleep in order to prevent accidents.
Using drugs to sedate the patient may be normal practice in nursing homes, but to do this at home only adds to the difficulty the carer faces during the day, for having to assist a person to the bathroom who is still suffering the after effects of the previous night’s sedation may result in accidents to both patient and carer.
For all those carers in this predicament recent studies with high intensity light therapy may prove to be the answer. Researchers found that dementia patients exposed to high intensity ambient light, 2,000 to 3,000 lux had less disrupted sleep patterns and slept for longer.
The results of the study are not conclusive but it does appear to indicate that elderly patients with dementia would have better sleep if they were exposed to more light during the day. Unfortunately many dementia patients may spend all too much time indoors in dimly lit rooms, depriving them of the benefits of sunshine.
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