Losing sleep caring for Dementia patients can affect health:
While dementia patients
need a caregiver to look after them, a new study has found that these
carers are losing their sleep while caring for their clients.
According
to the study, carers lose between 2.5 to 3.5 hours of sleep weekly since
they face difficulty in falling asleep and getting a sound sleep.
However, researchers also pointed out that this can be improved through
simple, low-cost interventions.
Researchers in the
study published in the journal 'JAMA' analysed 35 studies with data from
3,268 caregivers.
Informal caregiving for a person with dementia is
akin to adding a part-time but unpaid job to one's life, with family
members averaging 21.9 hours of caregiving, according to The Alzheimer's
Association estimates.
"Losing 3.5 hours of sleep per week does not
seem much, but caregivers often experience accumulation of sleep loss
over years," said lead author Chenlu Gao, a doctoral candidate of
psychology and neuroscience in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences.
"It can have a strong
impact on caregivers' cognition and mental and physical health. But
improving caregivers' sleep quality through low-cost behavioural
interventions can significantly improve their functions and quality of
life," said Gao.
Chronic stress is associated with short sleep and
poor-quality sleep. Nighttime awakenings by a patient with dementia also
can contribute to disturbed sleep in caregivers, researchers said.
"With that extra bit of
sleep loss every night, maybe a caregiver now forgets some medication
doses or reacts more emotionally than he or she otherwise would," said
co-author Michael Scullin, Ph.D., director of Baylor's Sleep
Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory and assistant professor of
psychology and neuroscience at Baylor.
Notably better sleep was observed
in caregivers after such simple behaviours as getting more morning
sunlight, establishing a regular and relaxing bedtime routine and taking
part in moderate physical exercise.
For the analysis, researchers
searched articles in peer-reviewed journals and books addressing
caregivers, sleep, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, published through
June 2018. Those studies measured sleep quality and quantity by
monitoring brain electrical activity, body movements and self-reporting
by caregivers.
The difference in time and quality of sleep was
significant when compared to non-caregivers in the same age range and
with the recommended minimum of sleep: seven hours nightly for adults.
Researchers also analyzed intervention-related changes in sleep quality,
such as daytime exercise, not drinking coffee or tea past late
afternoon, not drinking alcohol at night and getting more sunlight in
the morning.
"Given the long-term, potentially cumulative health
consequences of poor-quality sleep, as well as the rising need for
dementia caregivers worldwide, clinicians should consider sleep
interventions not only for the patient but also for the spouse, child or
friend who will be providing care," Gao opined.