The sleeping patterns of every individual vary as they age. In addition, their sleeping requirements also change. For seniors, the ideal number of sleep should be six to nine straight hours. This amount is already healthy for their body, mind, and emotions. If your loved one is not getting this amount of sleep every night, identify the causes so you can get the appropriate treatment right away.
As a premier provider of Home Healthcare in Alexandria, Virginia, we would like to share with you the following benefits of sleeping:
- Improves cognitive ability
Seniors can be at risk for dementia, which is a progressive disease of cognition. Among many patients with dementia, there’s an observed abundance of beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. These proteins are seen to increase when older adults don’t get sufficient amount of sleep. On the other hand, these proteins decrease after a good, long sleep, as the brain flushes them out of the body. Hence, person’s cognitive ability is improved with a healthy amount of sleep.
- Improves emotional wellbeing
Anxiety is also known to cause sleeping difficulties especially among the elderly. There are just a lot of reasons to be anxious about especially for someone in their later years. Interestingly, when a person sleeps well, they can relax their mind and emotions, leading to improved emotional health.
- Enhances focus
When a senior person gets adequate sleep every night, they become more alert and focused the following day. This is because the brain regains the energy it lost from a busy day after being able to rest well.
- Reduces fatigue
When a person is awake, every part of their being is at work. It’s no wonder that a busy person easily experiences fatigue. When they sleep, however, the body is given the much-needed break from work, allowing rest and relaxation which reduces fatigue.
- Strengthened immune system
With a good amount of sleep, the body’s immune system is also strengthened. In a person’s rest mode, the immune system is able to work at empowering itself, thus, enabling the body to protect itself against common illnesses such as cough and colds. Older adults need this kind of primary defensive system; hence, a good amount of undisturbed sleep is very vital for their health.
If your senior loved one at home is having sleeping challenges, it’s practical to have someone attend to them when they’re awake at night. A companion from a team providing Caregiver Services in Virginia can help them engage in mind-enhancing activities so that they can conveniently go back to sleep. If you’re in need of this kind of assistance for a dear aging loved one, don’t hesitate to contact us at Ready 2 Serve Home Healthcare LLC. Aside from non-medical and personal care assistance, we also provide Skilled Nursing services for your loved one with medical needs at home.
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