Why is sleep important for health and wellbeing?
A person with dementia needs regular sleep to stay well. Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. Sleeping well helps a person to be in a better mood, think more clearly, and maintain a healthy immune system. It can also help to prevent falls and accidents, and puts the body under less stress.
The two systems in the body that work together to control sleep are a person’s body clock and sleep pressure.
What is the body clock?
Our bodies sense natural light to know roughly what time of day or night it is. We also get a sense of time from routine daily activities – such as mealtimes, to create a sleep and wake cycle over 24 hours.
This tells our brains when it’s time to go to sleep (usually late in the evening) and when to wake up again (usually in the morning).
The body clock of a person with dementia may become damaged, making it harder for them to feel awake and alert during the day, and sleepy during the evening.
What is sleep pressure?
Sleep pressure is the increasing need to sleep after being awake for a long time. The longer a person has been awake for, the more likely that they will feel sleepy, and the more deeply they are likely to sleep. As a person sleeps, the pressure to sleep gradually wears off and they become more likely to wake up.
Some stimulants, such as caffeine, work by blocking the chemicals that make a person feel sleepy.
How do the body clock and sleep pressure work together?
It’s much easier for a person to get to sleep when they have built up lots of sleep pressure during the day, and their body clock senses that it’s evening. This turns on both sleep systems at the same time, and should make the person feel sleepy at the right time.
If the person doesn’t feel sleepy at night, their body clock may not be working well. They may also not have been awake for long enough to make the body need to sleep (for example, if they have taken a nap in the day).
Lifelong sleep patterns
Another factor that can affect a person’s sleep is patterns in their sleep during their lives. Some people will never have slept for long periods, and others may have had unusual sleeping patterns, such as working night shifts.
It may be very difficult for a person to change their lifelong sleeping patterns to suit other people, such as the daily schedule of a care home.
How will poor sleep affect health and wellbeing?
A person who doesn’t get enough good-quality sleep is likely to be tired, irritable, have a low mood and be less able to think clearly. It can also make them more likely to fall or have an accident. This can make caring for them more difficult.
If the stress of caring is making you unwell, talk to your GP. You should try to get as much good-quality sleep as possible.
