Sleep Problems in Dementia Patients

Sleep patterns are often abnormal in dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Dementia is a disorder in which people lose the ability to remember.

Dementia develops at any age but it is most common in older people.

Time spent in deep sleep decreases as dementia advances and you may be easily awakened.

Your circadian rhythm is reversed and often you sleep during the day and wake up during night. Due to the reversal of wake and sleep and sleep disturbances at night results in many other health problems.

Sun downing

As people with dementia sleep during day and wake up during night, they wander at night with restless behavior. Wandering at night with this behavior is called sun downing. A person can experience sun downing at any time of the day or night.

Sun downing results from disturbed sleep in older dementia patients. Sun downing may be related to the change in circadian rhythms as circadian rhythm becomes irregular in dementia.

Reasons for sleep problems in dementia patients

People with dementia have disorders such as dehydration, infection, arthritis that contribute to sleep problems. The sleep can be interrupted with the use of certain drugs and medications.

Symptoms may worsen including sleep problems, when people with dementia are moved to nursing home. Symptoms worsen due to changes in new surroundings and remembering new routines. The environment and noise at the nursing home disturb the sleep.

The nursing home should provide noise free environment. The environment should be dark at night and bright in the daytime. The bedroom should not be too cold or too hot.

Symptoms worsen if there are physical problems such as shortness of breath, constipation, pain, and retention of urine. Symptoms worsen due to the brain damage caused due to dementia, due to illness such as heart failure or diabetes, or pain due to arthritis.

The nursing home patients have disturbed sleep. Sleep apnea is common in people who have dementia and sun downing. The other sleep problems in patients with dementia are sleep disordered breathing, periodic limb movement disorder, and restless legs syndrome.

As the patients stay all the time in bed, they are never exposed to sun light. Therefore, their circadian rhythm gets disturbed due to poor light exposure and aging which contributes to sleep problems.

Consult your doctor:

• To have a medical check up to identify the problems
• To discuss whether medications are causing these problems
• To discuss in changing medications or stopping the use of medications

Dementia self care

• You should not take naps during daytime as it becomes difficult to sleep at night.
• You should go to bed at the same time in the night and wake up at same time in the morning.
• You should not take caffeine before going to bed and reduce the intake during daytime. Avoid alcohol consumption before bedtime.
• Take a warm bath or massage before going to bed.