Alzheimer’s Disease (commonly referred to as “AD”), is a debilitating degenerative neurologic condition of the brain that is the most common cause of senility and although, in rare instances can occur mid-life, primarily affects people 60 years and older.

It is a tragic condition that has serious consequences to memory, lucidity, speech, and motor skills in the afflicted.

One of the many corporal functions that is negatively impacted by Alzheimer’s Disease is sleep (and the ability to “rest” in general), and the implications of sleep disturbance often manifest during daily activities while awake.

Although there has been a considerable amount of research devoted to studying the disease since it was first diagnosed in 1906, there is still so much that is yet to be understood. It has been discovered, however, that the poor quality and the lower amounts of sleep that AD patients seem to receive is succinctly correlated with the incapacitating agitation and crippling confusion that are the hallmark symptoms of this disease. Continue reading →

Being melancholy from time to time as a result of inevitable events in one’s life is unfortunately a very normal and natural part of life and living.

However, if one’s saddened state is occurring on a longer and more frequent basis and begins to affect one’s physical and mental health in an abnormal capacities, then likely there is the presence of some sort of depressive condition.

There are many forms of depression and there are multiple mental illnesses that cause a person to be depressed in some way, and although the symptoms and the severity of those symptoms can vary widely, one factor that is consistent among all forms of depression is that sleep is affected somehow.

Sleep, in terms of patterns and quality, can be viewed as a barometer of sorts when evaluating a person’s overall physical health and mental well-being. Continue reading →