Dementia is one of the most significant health challenges facing older adults and their families today. In fact, it’s estimated that adults over the age of 55 have a 42% risk of developing dementia.
A dementia diagnosis can feel overwhelming, but learning about the condition can help you and your loved ones navigate what lies ahead. In this guide, we’ll cover what seniors and their families need to know, including how dementia progresses, tips for managing dementia symptoms, resources for family caregivers, and more.
- What Is Dementia?
- What Causes Dementia?
- What Are the Signs & Stages of Dementia?
- How Is Dementia Treated?
- Can Dementia Be Prevented?
- How Do You Care for Someone with Dementia at Home?
- What Resources Are Available for Dementia Caregivers?
- Dementia FAQs
What Is Dementia?
Dementia isn’t a single disease. It’s an umbrella term for a group of symptoms that affect memory, language, thinking, and social abilities and are severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Someone with dementia might have difficulty remembering recent conversations, become confused in familiar places, or have trouble making decisions that were once easy. Dementia can also affect a person’s emotions and cause personality changes.
While age is the strongest known risk factor, dementia isn't a part of normal aging. Many older adults never develop dementia. When it does occur, the severity of symptoms can vary widely, from mild effects on daily functioning to severe stages requiring full dependence on others.
What’s the Difference Between Dementia & Alzheimer’s?
The difference is that dementia is an umbrella term, while Alzheimer’s is a specific type of dementia. About 60%-80% of people with dementia have Alzheimer’s, making it the most common type of dementia.
Other types of dementia include:
- Lewy Body Dementia: This type is caused by abnormal clumps of certain proteins, called “Lewy bodies.”
- Vascular Dementia: This type of dementia develops due to strokes, which happen as a result of heart disease or narrow, damaged blood vessels in the brain.
- Frontotemporal Dementia: This condition can occur in people younger than 60 and happens due to frontal and temporal lobe atrophy.
What Causes Dementia?
Dementia causes vary by type, but generally, dementia results from a combination of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, reduced blood flow, or nerve cell damage in the brain. This damage disrupts communication between brain cells, leading to changes in thinking and behavior.
Dementia may result from specific health conditions and lifestyle choices that damage brain cells. These risk factors can include:
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- Physical inactivity
- Social isolation
While uncommon, dementia can be hereditary for some people. Certain gene variants can increase the risk of dementia, and some rare early-onset forms have a stronger genetic link.
What Are the Signs & Stages of Dementia?
The symptoms of dementia vary by stage. Early recognition can lead to earlier diagnosis, more treatment options, and better planning for families and caregivers.
Signs & Symptoms of Dementia
Normal aging includes some forgetfulness, but dementia-related memory loss is more severe and disruptive. Early dementia signs to watch for include:
- Frequently forgetting recent events or conversations
- Getting lost in familiar places or losing track of dates
- Difficulty finding words or following conversations
- Trouble completing familiar tasks
- Changes in mood, personality, or judgment
Keep in mind that symptoms present differently depending on the stage of dementia. For example, sundowning—that is, becoming more confused toward the end of the day as the sun goes down—is a common, often distressing symptom in the middle to late stages. It may be triggered by fatigue or unmet needs such as pain, hunger, or stress.
Stages of Dementia
There are generally three broad stages of dementia, but symptoms vary from stage to stage, as does the rate at which a person progresses through each stage.
Early-Stage Dementia
In the early stages, your loved one may experience forgetfulness and mild confusion. They’re usually still able to maintain their independence, but you might notice them making mistakes, such as burning food or forgetting to pay their bills.
Middle-Stage Dementia
The middle stage is often the longest and most demanding for caregivers. Your loved one may need help with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as bathing, dressing, and toileting. They may no longer recognize family members. Wandering, irritability, and agitation are also common.
Late-Stage Dementia
In late stages, the loved one with dementia may need assistance with nearly all activities of daily living. Communication and language may be severely affected, and the person may not be able to make decisions on their own.
How Is Dementia Treated?
There is currently no cure for most types of dementia, but there are treatments to help manage symptoms, slow progression, or support quality of life.
The main treatments for dementia include:
- Medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cognitive symptoms. Examples include cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil and memantine, a glutamate regulator.
- Disease-modifying treatments like Lecanemab and Donanemab aim to remove certain harmful proteins to prevent disease progression.
- Non-medication strategies such as structured routines, music therapy, and dementia activities that promote thinking and problem-solving. These can all help support your loved one’s brain health and well-being.
- Managing conditions that may occur alongside dementia and can worsen symptoms if left untreated. These include depression, sleep problems, or agitation.
A healthcare specialist, such as a neurologist or a geriatrician (i.e., a doctor who specializes in treating conditions in older adults), can help you and your loved one understand appropriate treatment options.
Can Dementia Be Prevented?
You can’t fully prevent dementia. But research shows that certain lifestyle choices may help reduce the risk. The earlier you or your loved one begins preventative measures, the better. Some strategies that can help include:
- Regular Physical Exercise: Physical activity supports heart health and may help lower the risk of dementia. Up to 80% of people with Alzheimer’s disease have a heart or blood vessel condition.
- MIND Diet: The MIND diet, which stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, boosts brain health by focusing on certain foods. It combines the Mediterranean diet with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. Examples include green leafy vegetables, nuts, berries, and olive oil.
- Mental Stimulation & Continued Learning: Some opportunities include reading, solving puzzles, or learning a new skill or hobby.
- Managing Other Aspects of Health: Blood pressure, blood sugar, and sleep quality are all linked to brain health.
How Do You Care for Someone with Dementia at Home?
Caring for a loved one with dementia at home takes planning, flexibility, and patience. With the right support systems and strategies, you can provide compassionate care while maintaining your loved one’s dignity and quality of life.
Create a Safe & Supportive Home Environment
A structured, familiar environment decreases anxiety and supports memory. Here's how you can help:
- Have Consistent Daily Routines: Make meals, activities, and bedtime predictable to reduce confusion. You might set mealtimes at the same time every day, go for a walk after lunch, and stick to a regular bedtime.
- Reduce the Risk of Falls or Accidents: Remove fall hazards such as loose rugs, cords, or clutter from walkways. Brighten areas of rooms that have dim lighting. Secure the home against wandering by installing door alarms or locks out of sight.
- Use Simple, Calm Communication: Give only one direction at a time, such as “Put your socks on,” “Now put your shoes on,” and “Here’s your coat.” Make eye contact and use a gentle tone of voice.
- Manage Sundowning with a Calming Schedule: Gradually dim the lights in the evening, reduce noise and stimulation after dinner, and go through a consistent wind-down routine before bed.
Support Mood & Behavior Changes
Agitation, paranoia, wandering, and mood swings are among the most emotionally taxing aspects of caring for a person with dementia. It might help to remember that these mood and behavior changes are symptoms of the condition—not an intentional act toward you—even if it is hard to understand that in the moment.
Tips to help keep your loved one calm include:
- Redirect Attention: Trying to reason with someone who is confused or agitated may only escalate the situation. Instead of correcting or disagreeing with your loved one, engage them in a different topic or activity.
- Provide Familiar Comforts: Use a calming voice, play their favorite music, or offer them a soft blanket to help ease anxiety and distress.
- Identify Triggers: Your loved one might feel agitated because of something specific, such as pain, hunger, feeling too cold or too hot, overstimulation, or a change in their routine. Pay attention to cues so you may be able to anticipate future triggers more quickly.
What Resources Are Available for Dementia Caregivers?
Caregiver burnout is a serious risk when caring for a loved one with dementia. It’s a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion and is more common than many families realize. No one should try to manage these feelings of overwhelm alone. Asking for help doesn’t mean you've failed. Your well-being matters, and you deserve to take care of yourself, too.
Some support options include:
- Respite care and adult day programs that provide supervised, structured activities for your loved one while you take a break and rest
- Specialized dementia care or memory care services
- Alzheimer’s Association helpline, a free 24/7 support line for caregivers and families
- Local support groups and online communities for caregivers, such as those through theAlzheimer’s Association
- The GUIDE program is a recent resource provided by Medicare. It supports families of people with dementia through education, financial aid programs, and care coordination.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dementia
What do dementia patients forget first?
People with dementia may forget the names of familiar places, appointments, recent events, memories, or the names of objects. As dementia progresses, they may forget the names of family members.
What are the first signs of dementia to watch for?
Some early signs of dementia to watch for include forgetfulness, short-term memory loss, getting lost in familiar places, difficulty finding words, and trouble completing activities of daily living.
What can make dementia worse quickly?
Dementia is usually a gradual, progressive condition, but some factors can worsen dementia symptoms, including a urinary tract infection (UTI), pain or discomfort, unfamiliar environments, or side effects from medications.
Do dementia patients do better at home or in a nursing home?
People with dementia often do better at home, but as care needs increase, a nursing home or memory care facility may be the safer option. If your loved one is refusing dementia care, it’s best to introduce services slowly through in-home care before transitioning to a facility.
Find Dementia Care with BrightStar Care®
Dementia is a progressive condition that can take a toll on you and your loved ones, but you’re not alone. BrightStar Care’s nurse-led care teams are experienced in at-home Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and we also have more advanced memory care services available. Our professional caregivers and skilled nurses can provide compassionate care to help older adults with dementia stay safe and maintain quality of life.
Find a location near you, contact us online, or call (866) 618-7827 to learn more about how BrightStar Care offers A Higher Standard®.