Dementia: family Caregivers suffer from lack of sleep

Researchers at the Baylor University in Texas have found that carers of people with dementia, lose a week up to 3.5 hours of sleep, because you often have difficulties, and sleep through the night. A disadvantage is that summed up not only the care of individuals, but may also be the dementia patients harm.

The care of a Person with dementia is comparable to that of a part-time employment for the family members, according to estimates by the Alzheimer’s Association, an average of 21.9 hours per week to spend. The analysis of 35 trials with a total of 3.268 Care revealed that each week between 2.4 and 3.5 hours less sleep than people who don’t care for dementia patients family members. "The loss of 3.5 hours of sleep per week does not seem to be a lot, but this accumulates in the care of people over the years, often an", Chenlu Gao, a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience, said at the Baylor College of Arts & Sciences in Texas.

Chronic Stress is often associated with short sleep and poor sleep quality. The nightly awakening of a patient with dementia, according to researchers, sleep disturbances in caregivers, which may result in a that this forget the administration of drugs or emotional than usual to respond. The researchers give the following tips to improve sleep: more morning sunlight, regular sleep times, in a relaxing environment and moderate physical activity of the day.

Worldwide, around 50 million adults suffer from dementia, according to the World Alzheimer’s Report is to increase this number by 2050 is expected to 131 million.

ZOU