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Helping Your Elderly Parent Cope with Sundowner’s

Caregivers in La Jolla CA

Caregivers in La Jolla CA

Caregivers in La Jolla CAAnyone would agree that being a family caregiver for an elderly adult who is dealing with Alzheimer’s disease is extremely challenging. It is vital to remember that this disease is not just a singular issue. Instead, it is a complex condition that impacts the mind and the person in a variety of ways. This means that in order to be the most effective caregiver possible for your aging loved one, you need to be able to recognize the specific issues that your senior is facing and adjust your care routine to address those issues in the way that is right for your senior.

One of the most challenging issues that elderly adults who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease face is a condition known as Sundowner’s. This condition is characterized by increased cognitive concerns, confusion and disorientation, and even fear and negative behaviors as the evening hours come about. While this might seem like a strange issue, when you take a step back and evaluate it through your own perspective you might realize that it actually makes sense. Think about how you feel at the end of a long day. You are likely tired, emotionally drained, overstimulated, and ready for the day to end so that you can go to bed. This can leave you feeling frustrated, sensitive, and moody. Now imagine that you do not know how to interpret feelings of being tired, you are disoriented and confused, you feel anxious, and your internal clock is disrupted so you do not understand the coming of the evening. This is how your aging parent feels.

Helping your aging parent cope with Sundowner’s can ease their stress, reduce the chances of negative behaviors, and make this time of day much smoother for everyone involved.

Use these tips to help your aging parent manage their Sundowner’s:

  • Create a sleep routine. Establishing a routine and sticking with it is not just good for your parent mentally, it also helps to retrain their body to know when they are supposed to sleep and when they are supposed to be awake. Set a time when your parent is to go to bed and when they are to be awake and active, and maintain this every day. Help to keep this on track with a routine that helps ease them to sleep at night, such as having a bath, changing into pajamas, and listening to soft music, and then another to wake up, such as changing into clothing, styling their hair, and having coffee.
  • Increase the light in their home. Sundowning is considered a disruption in the circadian rhythms. One way that you can help your loved one cope with this is by increasing the amount of light that they have in their home on a daily basis. This is especially important during the fall and winter months when the light is naturally lower.
  • Get them active. Fatigue can make your parent’s Sundowner’s symptoms much more serious. Many seniors with dementia struggle with getting enough sleep, which can lead to daytime naps and inactivity, which in turn makes sleeping harder, which furthers fatigue. This can all lead to serious anxiety, confusion, disorientation, and other symptoms in the evening. Getting your parent active and engaged during the day can help them to sleep better at night, reduce daytime napping, and reduce fatigue and over-exhaustion at night.

La Jolla Nurses Homecare can help your aging parents remain in their own homes, call 858-454-9339. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable senior care in La Costa, CA, and the surrounding communities."}” data-sheets-userformat=”{"2":767,"3":{"1":0},"4":{"1":2,"2":10667209},"5":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"8":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"9":2,"10":2,"12":0}”>For more information about how the caregivers at La Jolla Nurses Homecare can help your aging parents remain in their own homes, call 858-454-9339. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable senior care in La Jolla, CA, and the surrounding communities.

Source:

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/dementia-sundowning

Brittnei Salerno

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