24-Hour Home Care: How much do you know about sundowning?

As a family caregiver for someone that is getting older, you may want to learn a bit about this condition. It is quite common in those who have Alzheimer’s or dementia. Even if your elderly loved one doesn’t have those diseases, it may be helpful for you and your 24-Hour Home Care provider to be prepared and educated about them, in case they do arise.

What is Sundowning?

There are millions of elderly people who have sundowning. This is a symptom of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. It can cause many issues such as confusion, anxiety, and much more. Most of the time, people who have sundowning will experience it starting in the late evening hours. It can last well into the night, too. During those hours, the symptoms can worsen significantly. If you are worried about this with your elderly loved one or they do sundowning, you may want to ensure a 24-hour home care provider is there to watch your elderly loved one.

What Causes Sundowning?

As previously noted, there are many people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease who experience sundowning. Some things that can cause sundowning for people who have these diseases include:

Being late in the day
Excessive tiredness
Being upset or sad
Too much physical activity
Too much noise

If you want to learn more about sundowning and the causes of it, be sure to talk to your elderly loved one’s doctors. In the meantime, if you and elderly care providers can help to make sure these things aren’t an issue for your elderly loved one, it can help to prevent sundowning or, at the very least, reduce the severity of the symptoms.

Can You Get Your Elderly Loved One Help with Sundowning?

As you may know, there aren’t any cures for dementia or Alzheimer’s. However, there are ways to reduce the severity of sundowning symptoms or prevent some of those symptoms, as you read above. In addition, you can help to keep your elderly loved one’s sundowning symptoms to a minimum by hiring 24-hour home care providers. They can work with your elderly loved one and the environment day and night to help with this.

24-Hour Home Care: Conclusion

Now you know quite a bit about sundowning. If this is something your elderly loved one is going through, it may be a good idea to get help from 24-hour home care providers and your elderly loved one’s doctors. In addition, by following the tips above, you can help to reduce the amount and severity of symptoms your elderly loved one has.