Enhancing Sleep Quality for Seniors with Home Care Assistance

Getting enough sleep, and ensuring that sleep is of good quality, is tremendously important for seniors. Poor sleep can cause health issues to flare up, raises stress levels, and leaves seniors feeling terrible, too. Prioritizing better sleep is often easier with home care assistance, because they can make suggestions that support better overall routines and improve sleep quality quickly.

Benefits of Better Sleep for Seniors

Adequate sleep does more than most people realize, especially for aging adults. In terms of physical wellness, sleep improves immune function, helps cardiovascular health, and regulates metabolism. Getting enough sleep also helps seniors to consolidate memories better and can improve cognitive function. When seniors aren’t sleeping well, they are more likely to feel stressed, have unpredictable moods, and experience more anxiety.

Sleep Challenges for Seniors

So, what’s getting in the way of a good night’s sleep? There could be lots of issues. Insomnia is common, as are health issues like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. All of these conditions can make it tough for seniors to get to sleep, but they can also interrupt sleep. Changes in the sleep-wake cycle can throw off sleep quality, too, and those changes can happen because of poor sleep hygiene, medication side effects, or health issues.

Establishing a Sleep Routine

The best thing for seniors to do is to try to adopt a solid sleep routine. Elder care providers can help seniors to notice what they might be doing that could be causing a rift in their sleep routines. Some of the things they might want to consider could be waking up and going to bed at set times or adopting habits that help them to wind down before bed.

Making the Sleep Environment More Comfortable

If the sleeping environment isn’t comfortable and safe, seniors may have a lot more trouble sleeping well, too. Home care assistance can help seniors spot issues like temperature issues overnight or problems with noise or light that could be interfering more than seniors realize. Making even small environmental adjustments can make a big difference.

Increasing Physical Activity

One error seniors make a lot with their sleep habits is in not being active enough during the day. Whether it’s because of health issues or other changes, seniors may be more sedentary than they used to be, which leaves them feeling too energized by the time they’re ready to sleep. Even if they’re tired, they might not be physically ready to sleep. It might help to talk to the senior’s doctor to determine if they need to move more during the day.

Helping with ADLs

Another common problem is that seniors are too exhausted when they’re ready to sleep. When seniors need more help with their activities of daily living, they could be pushing themselves too hard to do all the things. By the time they get to the end of the day, they’re sleepy, but they’ve pushed themselves too hard and their bodies are too tired. Having help from elder care providers during the day can let them rest and become more balanced.

Home care assistance can help seniors get better sleep in so many different ways. Giving their advice a try can make a huge difference in overall sleep quality.

If you or an aging loved one are considering home care assistance in New Rochelle, NY, please contact the caring staff at Griswold Home Care for Scarsdale & Yonkers today at (914) 337-5028.