Dementia is a set of symptoms linked to the progressive decline of the brain with age. While certain signs such as memory loss are known, others are more subtle and occur at night. Learning to identify them is crucial for early treatment.
In France, more than a million people are affected by dementia. The most common form is Alzheimer’s disease (around 80% of cases). It mainly affects people over 65 and a little more so women, mainly because they live longer on average than men. Dementia should not be seen as a fatality due to age, but as the consequence of mechanical and chemical “breakdowns” in the brain. The cause is often degenerative: the brain is no longer able to eliminate certain proteins which accumulate, form plaques and end up “choking” the neurons, preventing information from circulating. The cause can also be vascular: small blood vessels are blocked or damaged (due to high blood pressure, cholesterol or unnoticed mini-strokes) and prevent blood supply to certain areas of the brain which end up dying.
Detecting the early signs of dementia is difficult for patients, families and doctors alike. Symptoms are extremely broad and varied, changing from person to person depending on the area of the brain affected. At first, it may be simple personality changes, loss of motivation, or difficulty finding words. This subtlety often leads those around you to put these changes down to fatigue or stress, which delays the diagnosis when the brain is already undergoing irreversible transformations.
Among the warning signs identified by experts, notably those of the Alzheimer Society, two nocturnal symptoms should particularly attract attention when they become frequent. The first is night wandering. “The person gets up and walks around the house, sometimes repeatedly. She may appear to be looking for someone or something, or even attempting to leave the home. This agitation is often a sign of spatio-temporal disorientation“, explains the association. The second is the inversion of the day-night rhythm. “The internal biological clock goes wrong. The person has great difficulty falling asleep or wakes up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep. To compensate, she tends to sleep more and more during the day, which worsens the nocturnal confusion cycle.“.
If you notice these behaviors in a loved one, you should invite them to consult a general practitioner who can carry out simple cognitive tests and eliminate other reversible causes (vitamin deficiency, urinary infection, side effects of medications). In addition to a medical appointment, a few adjustments can help. Establishing a daily routine, especially at bedtime, resynchronizes the biological clock. For example, drink a hot beverage without caffeine, go to the bathroom, change clothes, wash and brush your teeth, lie down and listen to soft music or your favorite radio show. Generally speaking, a routine is reassuring and helps the person find their way in time.
Going out during the day, ideally in the morning, can help regulate the body clock. The person will be more likely to be sleepy in the evening. At the end of the evening, dimming the lights can help you fall asleep (unless you get sleepy too early). Finally, it is better to avoid caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol which are stimulants that disrupt sleep.
