Tips for Helping Your Loved One with Dementia Get a Good Night’s Sleep

While sleep can sometimes be elusive for any of us, sleep problems for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia tend to be much more frequent and severe. This is a result of the degenerative effects of dementia, which damage the parts of the brain responsible for producing important sleep-inducing chemicals.

Sleep is a vital human function that is essential for restoring us physically, emotionally and cognitively and maintaining our overall health and well-being. Therefore, it is important for caregivers to understand the problem and take proper steps to help their loved ones with dementia get the rest they need.

Sleeping Tips for Your Loved One with Dementia The Alzheimer’s Association and The Mayo Clinic offer several useful recommendations that can create a more effective sleep environment for your loved one with dementia. They note that non-pharmacological strategies such as these should be tried before any sleep medications, since some can cause serious side effects for people with dementia.

Their recommendations include:

• Establish and maintain regular times for meals and for going to bed and getting up • Expose your loved one to a few hours of sunlight in the morning • Encourage regular daily exercise and physical activity early in the day, and no later

than four hours before bedtime • Avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine • Try to limit daytime sleep, e.g. if your loved one needs a nap, make sure it's short

and not too late in the day • Make sure that their toileting needs are taken care of before bedtime • Treat any pain, but find out what time of day your loved one should take their

medications • Make sure the bedroom temperature is comfortable • Provide nightlights and security objects • Avoid sleeping pills as they generally do not improve the person’s sleep quality and

can increase confusion and the risk of falls • If your loved one awakens at night, gently remind them that it's night and time for

sleep. If you find them wandering in the house, gently guide them back to bed

By following these expert tips, you can help your loved with dementia to achieve the quality of sleep their body needs. If you are an at-home caregiver, sufficient sleep is also very important for your own health. The article, Five Tips to Help Caregivers Get Their Zzzs offers several suggestions to help you sleep better as well.

 

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