Sleeping Pattern Disruption’s With Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer’s disease can disrupt a patient so much that they end
up reversing their sleeping pattern completely and wanting to
sleep all day and be awake and active all night
Although this may not be a problem for the patient their family
and care givers may rapidly become drained and exhausted
People often assume that as we get older, we need less sleep
which may be true for some people but the opposite is true for
others as everyone establishes the sleep pattern that suits them
While the sleep needs of an Alzheimer’s disease sufferer may not
change their sleep patterns can reverse making them noisy and
disruptive by moving around the house during the night as if it
is the daytime
Although it may be very tempting to use medication to help the
Alzheimer’s disease sufferer sleep at night, and indeed it may
become necessary, it can create a vicious circle as sedatives
can exacerbate their confused mental state and so make the
person even more difficult to cope with
It may also be tempting to let them sleep for long periods
during the day to give the carer some respite to do chores, or
even take a nap themselves
However, it’s much more appropriate to keep the Alzheimer’s
sufferer gently active during the day as this is a good way of
helping them to re-establish a sleeping pattern where they
settle again at night
You should also make sure that other factors such as
incontinence, night cramps or joint pain aren’t causing the
restless nights
Sometimes a couple of light pain killers just before bedtime can
alleviate some of these problems and give everyone a restful
night
Perhaps the patient would enjoy a small glass of their favourite
tipple or a warm drink, although care must be taken that urinary
incontinence doesn’t then become a problem
Night sitting services are available if a solution to a
patient’s night activity can’t be found
These can be very useful as the Alzheimer sufferer is able to
wander about normally safe under close supervision while the
carer has an undisturbed night’s sleep
Even if a service like this can only be used for one or two
nights a week, at least the carer is getting some quality sleep

Tags | alzheimer, bedtime, chores, givers, incontinence, patterns, respite, supervision, urinary, vicious