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.
The apparent link between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease is significant enough that it is thought amongst doctors and caregivers that a regular, organized and effective sleep schedule is as critical to an AD patient’s therapeutic regimen as are any of their medications and other pharmaceutical treatments.
Like many diseases, Alzheimer’s progression is tracked in stages, and a kind of “catch – 22” type of situation is created in that the disease affects sleep, and the effect that it has on a person’s sleep can then in turn exacerbate, and even accelerate the progression of the disease.
One observational study, conducted in the mid-90’s, revealed that although the sleep patterns in the individual patients varied widely, all of the subjects who participated in the study were significantly less agitated after having slept, and subsequently that fatigue seemed to be a significantly contributing factor in the subject’s aggravation.
A phenomenon known as the “sundown effect,” (which is the term used to describe the fact that agitated behaviors and actions in people afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease increase in both frequency and intensity in the evenings), was also documented in this study, and other studies similar to it. What has also been explored in this research is that the sleep schedules of persons with AD not only clearly affect them but impinge upon their caregivers as well.
Basically, getting adequate rest can dampen the agitated behaviors exhibited by people with AD, which in turn can address a lot of the challenges that the persons caring for them have to face.
The National Sleep Foundation has compiled an intriguing amount of data on the relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease, and has it suggested that creating a regular sleep schedule that is executed in an “ideal sleep environment” (“ideal” generally being dark, quiet, comfortable, and cool), should absolutely be made a priority when it comes to the successful care and management of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, and, alternatively, structuring routines and activities when an Alzheimer’s patient is awake (such as some form of daily exercise, or creating well-lit and vibrant environments for “awake” times, etc.) will contribute to improving the quality of rest the patient will receive while they are sleeping.
The science behind the relationship between a person’s circadian rhythm and their cognitive function has been well established and is particularly critical when one’s cognition has been damaged by diseases of the mind such as Alzheimer’s, therefore, organizing and implementing a contingency plan for good quality sleep is essential to the success one will have in managing a case of Alzheimer’s Disease.
