Senior Health: Depending on the severity of your senior’s dementia, you may not be able to talk with her about specific issues she’s having, like difficulty sleeping.

The worse news is that lack of sleep can aggravate dementia symptoms.

Your Own Sleep Is Interrupted

Whether you and your senior live in the same home or not, you may find that your own sleep is interrupted by your senior’s poor sleep. If you’re in the same home, she may be a lot more active at night and that can be tough to ignore when noise and lights are involved. But even if you don’t live together, your senior may call you in the middle of the night, waking you up and causing you to be concerned about what’s happening.

It Takes Her a Long Time to Fall Asleep

If it’s taking your elderly family member a long time to fall asleep when she does settle down for the night, that can be a sign of trouble sleeping. She may not be able to describe to you what’s going on or what she needs, either, which can be frustrating for both of you. If your elderly family member tends to wake up in the middle of the night, it can also take her longer to fall back asleep.

She’s Sleepy During the Day

Excessive daytime sleepiness or even long naps during the day can be an indication that your elderly family member is having trouble sleeping at night. When she spends all night awake, that catches up with her by the time she should really be at her most active. Sometimes your senior may be able to stay awake during the day, but if she sits down to do something passive like watch television she may easily fall asleep.

She’s Having More Trouble with Mood Regulation

Lack of sleep causes a variety of issues. One big problem that your senior may experience is more trouble with dysregulated moods. That’s something that can happen with dementia anyway, but lack of sleep makes it worse. Your senior may appear more aggressive than usual, or she may have difficulty expressing how she’s feeling.

When your senior is having trouble sleeping, that can often affect your ability to sleep, too. That can leave you feeling at your wits’ end. Bringing in senior care providers to help your senior overnight can enable you to get the rest you need so that you can help her during the day.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring a Home Health Care in San Mateo, CA, contact the friendly staff at Home Care Professionals today.
Call (866)-940-485

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andy@hcprosonline.com

CEO at HomeCare Professionals

Andy Howardis a Bay Area Native who holds a BA in Political Science (University of Colorado at Boulder, ’97). After college Andy worked in the surging tech industry.His Grandmother however, would suffer a significant decline in health and ultimately needed in-home care. The experience of a loved one depending on outside help to age in place proved to be pivotal for Andy as he left the tech industry in 2002 for an opportunity in the home care world with a large provider. After having success in home care, but being frustrated by corporate constraints Andy founded HomeCare Professionals in 2005.He methodically built the company one client at a time by focusing on hiring quality caregivers to ensure positive outcomes. Currently Andy serves as the CEO of HomeCare Professionals and is also highly active in the non-profit organization California Association of Health Services at Home (CAHSAH) which advocates for a higher standard of in-home care for those who wish to remain living at home in California.

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