How Can You Help Your Parent with Parkinson's Disease Cope with Excessive Daytime Sleepiness?

As a family caregiver you already know how important it is for your aging parent to get enough sleep on a regular basis. Sleep is crucial to physical health and functioning, as well as for mental and emotional well-being. For the million people throughout the United States who are currently living with Parkinson's disease, not getting enough sleep, or good enough quality sleep an be a common and detrimental challenge. Up to 75 percent experience sleep disorders that compromise their sleep at night, and between 30 and 50 percent experienced excessive daytime sleepiness. Experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness and can dramatically impact your parent's functioning, health, and quality of life. Helping them to cope effectively with this excessive daytime sleepiness can improve your parent's quality of life, and help them to better manage their Parkinson's disease.

Some ways you can help your parent with Parkinson's disease cope with excessive daytime sleepiness include:

• Strive to improve the quality of sleep they get at night by creating the best sleep environment for them. People tend to sleep best in rooms that are cool and dark, and in lightweight clothing. Remove items from their sleep environment that emit light, such as alarm clocks, and discourage your senior from using their bedroom for any type of activity that might stimulate their mind, such as I'm watching TV or working on a computer.
• Establish a sleep schedule for your aging parents, and encourage them to follow it. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day is important for helping your parent get to sleep efficiently, get good quality of sleep, and wake up refreshed and ready for the day.
• If your parent is experiencing symptoms of restless leg syndrome, talk to their doctor about how to manage them effectively. Exercise, medication, and other approaches can ease these symptoms for improved sleep at night.
• Make sure your parent is eating a well-balanced diet and getting enough fluids throughout the day. This is important for production of energy and alertness.
• Get your parent out in the sunlight during the day. This will stimulate the production of alertness and feel-good hormones, and lessen sleepiness.
• Encourage your parent to finish their daily tasks as early as possible in the day when they are more likely to be alert and have energy.
• If your parent is feeling sleepy during the day, encourage them to do an activity or get out of the house rather than napping. Taking a nap can make sleeping at night more difficult, and worsen daytime sleepiness the next day.

The truly customizable nature of the services available is one of the best aspects of senior care. A senior home care services provider can offer your aging parent a set of services tailored specifically to them and their individual needs. This means their care will be devised based not only on their symptoms and challenges, but also on their personality, needs, goals, and individuality. Through these services, your aging parent is able to stay healthier and safer as they progressed through their disease, and always feel confident in their ability to manage the increased challenges they will experience as their disease progresses. As their family caregiver,  senior care can be the thing you need to ease your mind, reduce your stress, and help you it to maintain not only your quality of life, but also the quality of the care you give to your parents and the others who rely on you.

IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE ARE CONSIDERING HIRING SENIOR CARE IN GOLD COAST, IL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT BRIGHTSTAR CARE CHICAGO. CALL TODAY: 312.382.8888.