Sleep

[Lanberman]

Hi I am a new member on here.I have early onset dementia with Alzheimer’s/mixed dementia I am having a lot of issues trying to sleep normal hours ie I am usually awake all night and tend to want to sleep all day,I have read a lot of people have trouble sleeping or napping in the afternoon but not much about my sleep turned upside down..I retired from work in sept 21,I did permanent nights for 8 years 12 hours shifts 4 days on 4 off,I always thought I was a night owl anyway but it’s getting on my nerves now,I must try harder lol
luckily my wife is good with it and allows me to do what I want and go with the flow.
its nice to read other peoples stories and the more I read about dementia the more I get when they say each persons journey is different

 

[Banjomansmate]

Hello @Lanberman and welcome to Talking Point.
Whilst not working night shifts, The Banjoman was a publican and a musician so spent the vast majority of his life working / travelling well after midnight. Even after being retired for ten years he still kept those hours, I was never able to wean him onto “ ordinary” life. Once he moved into residential care the staff would get him snacks well into the night because that was what he was used to.
You currently have the double whammy of just retiring from work, during which your body clock set itself to unusual hours and now the signs of dementia which can also turn things upside down. Rather than trying to reset your body clock in one go maybe you could try to change things a little at a time, staying awake longer during daylight hours over a period of several weeks? There is no immediate rush to change unless you want or need to go somewhere important in the immediate future.

 

[jennifer1967]

working nights will muck up your sleep patterns as if you work a night, you have to sleep day before and after. its probably better to do a few days on the trot. my husband sleeps all night and usually a lot of the day. you have the double whammy of night work and dementia. do you get up in the night and do things? i find it easier to read etc rather than lie there thinking i must go to sleep.

 

[Lanberman]

Hello @Lanberman and welcome to Talking Point.
Whilst not working night shifts, The Banjoman was a publican and a musician so spent the vast majority of his life working / travelling well after midnight. Even after being retired for ten years he still kept those hours, I was never able to wean him onto “ ordinary” life. Once he moved into residential care the staff would get him snacks well into the night because that was what he was used to.
You currently have the double whammy of just retiring from work, during which your body clock set itself to unusual hours and now the signs of dementia which can also turn things upside down. Rather than trying to reset your body clock in one go maybe you could try to change things a little at a time, staying awake longer during daylight hours over a period of several weeks? There is no immediate rush to change unless you want or need to go somewhere important in the immediate future.

Thanks for the reply. i Think your staying awake longer is a good plan and I will give it a go..as you said I don’t have to rush,I feel better since retiring from work so don’t have the stress of having to get up for work

 

[Lanberman]

working nights will muck up your sleep patterns as if you work a night, you have to sleep day before and after. its probably better to do a few days on the trot. my husband sleeps all night and usually a lot of the day. you have the double whammy of night work and dementia. do you get up in the night and do things? i find it easier to read etc rather than lie there thinking i must go to sleep.

Thanks for the reply. It’s not a case of getting up in the night.I can’t go to sleep till my brain lets me so I don’t usually go to bed till mid morning after being up all night watching tv or scanning social media..life has got better since retiring from work as I had a very stressful job at times but sometimes it just feels like I am sleeping my life away..before my dementia diagnosis I did a lot of research on working nights and it was never positive but it was a rewarding job that I had done for 8 years

 

[Lanberman]

I forget to mention the problem with sleeping at the wrong time affects my eating patterns so sometimes I go longer than I should without food as I am diabetic.we always try and have something in that can be made quickly as I wake up sometimes feeling hungry

 

[Banjomansmate]

Instead of scanning social media find something off line to keep you mentally stimulated. Find a good book or do puzzles needing pen and paper, do a difficult jigsaw, anything to help tire your mind until your eyes get heavy. Go for a walk or do some physical work during the daylight hours, making the most of the sunshine and fresh air. Is there some interest that you could follow that demands interacting with other people? (Difficult in current circumstances, I appreciate) but the stimulus of being with people during the daytime would, hopefully, help to keep you awake.

 

[jennifer1967]

Instead of scanning social media find something off line to keep you mentally stimulated. Find a good book or do puzzles needing pen and paper, do a difficult jigsaw, anything to help tire your mind until your eyes get heavy. Go for a walk or do some physical work during the daylight hours, making the most of the sunshine and fresh air. Is there some interest that you could follow that demands interacting with other people? (Difficult in current circumstances, I appreciate) but the stimulus of being with people during the daytime would, hopefully, help to keep you awake.

i was just going to say the same thing, i try to turn my lap top off an hour before as its stimulating.

 

[Brizzle]

I worked a shift pattern including nights for 28 years. I always slept so well during the day time since I was so tired following a 12 hour night shift plus 2 hours travelling. Day shifts were a nightmare , I could never sleep at night knowing I had to be up in the morning to do another 12 hour shift, hence on days I resembled a black eyed walking zombie most of the time. To this day even if I have had hardly had any sleep overnight my body clock sends an adrenaline boost towards the next midnight hour that suddenly makes me unable to sleep...and so the cycle goes on ... hence this post at 02.15 in the morning. Feeling a tad sleepy now so optimistic I might fall asleep around 02.30 which is an early night !

 

[Norrms]

Hiya lanberman, i also worked multi shifts or continental shifts as they called them those days, but the best answewr is the one you have been given by your wife who says just go with the flow, after all, in the big scheme of things what does it mattewr? NORRMS XX