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Sep 30, 2022

Helping Seniors with Chronic Health Conditions Get Better Sleep

Written By: Tom Crowe

A good night's sleep brings about so many health benefits. The benefits are even more important in elderly care. Westlake Village, CA families looking for simple things that can prevent or ease chronic health conditions should think about steps to improve the quality of sleep of the person in question.

Residential assisted living in Westlake Village, CA really can be aided by good sleep. Benefits of a good night's sleep include a boost in mood, a more robust immune system, a more alert, and active mind, a faster metabolism, increased concentration, and, very importantly, a brain that is cleared of harmful toxins — including toxins thought to contribute to dementia and Alzheimers!

So a very important bit of help for seniors with dementia — or preventing Alzheimer's — could just be making sure your loved one gets a good night's sleep every night.

But some people have trouble getting to sleep. And once asleep, they can struggle with staying asleep, or waking up right. This can be especially true of the elderly with senior health conditions. Poor sleep quality may come from a variety of factors, but some of the consistent conditions could be a noisy space, uncomfortable bedding, or dirty air. So we have some suggestions of items that may help improve sleep in senior home caregiver situations.

Our first suggestion is a weighted blanket. Sleep comes more naturally, and is a much deeper sleep when we have something of substance covering us. It doesn’t necessarily need to be super warm, but it is more conducive to good sleep if it has weight. These can come in different weights and sizes, from something to use when lounging on your favorite chair, to a full queen or king-sized blanket for your bed.

Our next suggested item is a noise machine. These can be fairly simple, with just typical white noise, or they can be much more complex. They can offer multiple different sound types, and can even adjust their volume and output based on changes in ambient room sound.

An alarm clock that also has a sunlight lamp integrated. These can help the sleeper to awaken more naturally by identifying the optimal time for the sleeper to awaken and then gently adding imitation daylight to the room to encourage a normal waking up cycle.

The last item we’ll talk about is an air purifier that can help one to sleep more deeply by removing offensive odors, annoying molds, dust, and other air pollutants. When the air is clean and pure, the lungs can work more freely, and breathe more deeply. Also, look for an air purifier that runs silently, so it isn’t adding annoying noise to the environment.

With some combination of these items, sleep will be so much better for those in senior care. Westlake Village, CA residents can find these gadgets online or in some stores, and the CAREGivers of Home instead can help to identify which ones might work best and get them.

Call Home instead at (805) 429-9789 for an in-home or virtual assessment.

A Home Instead caregiver kneels to help an elderly man tie his shoes in a cozy living room, highlighting patient and personalized care for daily tasks.

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