Blog > How Can Home Care Help With Sundowning?

How Can Home Care Help With Sundowning?

Sundowning is a stage people with Alzheimer’s often experience. The change of daylight to dusk and darkness impacts mood. It can lead to agitation, fear, and anger. It’s one of the harder stages to manage when you’re a family caregiver. This is why you should consider getting help from a home care aide.

What Exactly is Sundowning?

Sundowning is common in some forms of dementia. People who have parents with Alzheimer’s disease are likely to encounter this emotional issue in the moderate stage. It differs from one person to the next. There are theories as to why it happens, but there is no exact understanding of the cause.

A person with sundowning goes through behavioral changes when the light shifts. Behavior worsens when the sun begins to set. In the early evening hours, a person who is experiencing sundowning may become more anxious, agitated, panicked, confused, or delusional.

Sleep patterns may become disrupted. Your parent may lash out with physical actions like hitting or kicking. It’s stressful for everyone. It’s often hard to pinpoint exactly what triggers the change, so you feel helpless to improve the situation.

Ways to Reduce Sundowning

There are things you can try to reduce sundowning. Turn on lights before the sun starts to set. Put them on timers if needed. Keep a relaxed mood as the sun goes down. Put on music you know is soothing. Stick to a schedule so that no drastic changes are happening when the sunlight changes.

A routine is key with sundowning. Create a routine where your parent has a caregiver from hour X to hour X and then take over from 5 to bedtime. That routine can help. Your parent will get used to you being the one in the home when it’s bedtime.

You can set up the bedtime routine in a soothing way. Lavender oil sprayed in the bedroom with soothing sounds of a babbling brook or soft instrumental music are ideas of what works well.

Distractions often work best of all. Breaking into dance, singing along with music, and putting on a movie are ways to distract.

How Can Caregivers Help?

Home care services are one of the best ways to ease sundowning. If you’ve had a caregiver with your mom or dad all day, when the sundowning hits at night, you’ll be recharged and entering the situation with a clearer mind.

Sundowning can make for a very stressful time for you and your parent. Make sure you’re getting a break from each other. If you don’t you could burn out and feel overwhelmed as a family caregiver.

If you or an aging loved-one is considering Home Health Care in Boulder, CO, please contact the caring staff at Touching Hearts at Home today at 303-255-4071.