What is Sundowners and How To Prevent Sleeplessness

By admin | April 2, 2025 |

Home Care Services, Huntington, NY

Ever wondered why your loved one becomes more agitated in the evening hours? Or do you want your loved one with dementia to sleep better? Sundowning is a condition that leads to agitation and anxiety as the sun starts to set during the day. In people with dementia, This can last for less than an hour up to all hours of the night causing agitation, anxiety, and restlessness.

My name is Jennifer Benjamin, and I’m the owner of Family First Home Companions. And in today’s video, we’re going to talk about what is sundowning syndrome and how to prevent sleeplessness. What is sundowning and how does it happen? Sundowning syndrome is a symptom of dementia that causes agitation and anxiety for some people with dementia as the sun sets and as the sky starts to become darker.

Check out our video below to learn more.

This doesn’t happen for everyone, but for those that it does occur in, it can cause a great deal of stress for both the person with dementia and for their family members. It can result in a lot of different behavioral symptoms from the person leaving the home and wandering out of the home and getting lost, very severe confusion and disorientation.

It could even lead to combativeness where the person may become so agitated that they are verbally abusive or possibly even physically abusive. So sundowning is something that many family members find very challenging, and the healthcare community does not entirely know why this occurs for some people.

There are some theories that it happens as the sky starts to get darker and shadows start to appear more that the person with dementia may perceive those shadows as something scary or they just don’t understand, you know, their environment as well. It is also theorized that because the end of the day, when the person with dementia Worked at maybe some point and had maybe children at some point that as the sun started to set that was typically a very busy time of day for a family.

Getting dinner ready, getting the kids home from school, maybe a lot of things going on in the household and that person with dementia feels the need to do these things. As the sun is going down so sundowning, there’s not entirely conclusion on what causes it, but it’s certainly a syndrome that many people experience and find very challenging.

So here are some things that you can do if your loved one experiences sundowning. Number one, establish a consistent routine. You want to make sure that every day there’s generally a similar schedule to the day before. That person gets up around the same time in the morning, they have their breakfast at the same time each day, and the rest of their meals are generally at the same time.

There is a routine with activities with personal hygiene and getting dressed and showered and that everything in their daily schedule pretty much occurs around the same time each day. Routine and regimen are really important here. And that consistency is going to greatly reduce anxiety and confusion, especially as the sun starts to set.

So, establishing a consistent routine is really important when dealing with and combating sundowning syndrome. Number two, optimize the sleep environment. You want to make sure that again, your loved one is going to bed at the same time each night and that the environment is conducive to falling asleep.

Keeping the temperature cooler making sure that they have low lighting, that the room is dark, maybe using blackout curtains, possibly even white noise machines could help to block out any other noises in the home, especially if your loved one does go to bed earlier than others in the home. And you just want to make sure that it’s It’s nice and quiet and a perfect environment for them to fall asleep calmly and peacefully.

Number three, monitor diet and caffeine intake. Sugary foods, a lot of caffeinated drinks. will definitely affect your loved one’s ability to get a full night’s rest and to stay calm and not have anxiety during the day. So you want to monitor how much sugar they’re eating throughout the day and how much caffeine.

One thing that we did with my grandmother when she was living with dementia was to only give her decaf coffee. My grandmother loved her coffee. But we started to realize that the caffeine was really affecting her, especially with her Sundowning Syndrome. So, making it all decaf really worked great for us, and it might work great for you too.

You also want to encourage a balanced diet. Plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables. Whole grains to help that person have a healthy digestive system, which will also have that domino effect to help them to sleep better. So a good balanced diet will always go a long way. So when it comes to watching your loved one’s fluids and diet, we want to really monitor for caffeine, sugar, and make sure they’re eating a balanced diet.

Number four, encourage daytime activity. Activities during the day are going to really help your loved one to stay engaged, to have fun, to have that cognitive stimulation as well as have some physical exercise. And these are all really good, healthy routines to incorporate into their daily routine. So you want to promote physical activity.

That could be just simple walks around the house or walks outside, if that’s possible. Maybe some very light weight training. Could even be a soup can to just lift a little, a soup can to get some arm movements. So any kind of physical activity is going to go a long way. Also, like physical activity does for all of us, It can make us tired and it can also help us sleep better at night.

So physical activity is a really important point when it comes to helping with sundowning syndrome and sleeplessness. We also want to make sure we’re doing the mental stimulation during the day. And that can be as simple as having conversation with your loved one, reading, playing games, scrabble, word games, listening to music, anything that’s going to cognitively stimulate them and help them to stay engaged and help them to stay focused.

So when it comes to reducing sundowning syndrome and sleeplessness, You want to make sure you’re encouraging a lot of daytime activity. This is where a caregiver can be really helpful when it comes to daytime activities. Caregivers will do a lot of recreational activities with their clients. They’ll take them out for that walk each day.

They will play Scrabble. They will have conversation throughout the day. And the more your loved one has this stimulation, the better they’re going to be. In fact, it could even help to reduce some of their dementia symptoms, as well as The anxiety and agitation that can sometimes come along with this disease.

So a caregiver can be another great advantage to helping your loved one get that activity throughout the day. Number five, manage evening lighting. When it comes to the lighting in the home, you want to make sure that as the person, as the sun is setting, and as the person is getting into the evening hours, We want to create a calm atmosphere and having warm lighting is going to help with that.

So we want to keep the lights low, avoid bright lights, try not to give your loved one a device that they might have screen time, too much screen time with, and just dimming the lights in and of itself can signal that it’s time to get ready for sleep. So, managing the evening lighting can really help with reducing the sundowning symptoms, as well as help your loved one get ready for a really good night’s rest.

Number six, play music. When my grandmother had sundowning syndrome, music was a go to for us. We would play her favorite songs, which included Frank Sinatra. She would be dancing around the kitchen while we were getting dinner ready. And it greatly reduced her agitation and anxiety. that would always happen as the sun started to set.

Music can bring about all kinds of positive mood changes for the person. They will also have an activity that is stimulating them and keeping them occupied at that time. And it’s well known that Our memory for music stays well intact with this disease for a very long time, while dementia may be affecting the person’s memory.

It’s ability to communicate or to recall things. Their ability to remember music and enjoy music and respond to it is still well intact for a long time. To learn more how we can support your loved one with sundowning, visit familyfirsthomecompanions.com.

At Family First Home Companions of Long Island, NY our mission is to provide an outstanding home care service that is professional and personalized. We diligently hire attentive, qualified staff to meet each client’s unique needs and do so with compassion and integrity. It is an honor and a privilege to help seniors at home to maintain their independence and quality of life in Long Island, NY. If you or a senior loved one needs help with daily activities such as, meal preparation, household chores, errands, transportation, guidance and supervision for safety at home, please call Family First Home Companions at 631-319-3961. We proudly serve seniors at home in Albertson, Amityville, Babylon, Baldwin, Bayport, Bay Shore, Bayville, Bellerose Terrace, Bellmore, Bellport, Bethpage, Blue Point, Bohemia, Brentwood, Brightwaters, Brookhaven, Brookville, Calverton, Carle Place, Cedarhurst, Center Moriches, Centereach, Centerport, Central Islip, Cold Spring Harbor, Commack, Copiague, Coram, Deer Park, Dix Hills, East Islip, East Marion, East Meadow, East Moriches, East Northport, East Norwich, East Patchogue, East Quogue, East Rockaway, East Setauket, Eastport, Elmont, Elwood, Farmingdale, Farmingville, Floral Park, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Glen Head Glenwood Landing, Great Neck, Great River, Greenlawn, Greenvale, Hampton Bays, Hauppauge, Hempstead, Hewlett, Hicksville, Holbrook, Holtsville, Huntington, Huntington Station, Inwood, Island Park, Islandia, Islip, Islip Terrace, Jamesport, Jericho, Kings Park, Kings Point, Lake Grove, Lawrence, Levittown, Lindenhurst, Lloyd Harbor, Locust Valley, Lynbrook, Malverne, Manhasset, Manorville, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Mastic, Mastic Beach, Medford, Melville, Merrick, Middle Island, Mill Neck, Miller Place, Mineola, Moriches, Mount Sinai, Nesconset, New Hyde Park, North Amityville, North Babylon, North Lynbrook, North New Hyde Park, North Patchogue, North Valley Stream, North Woodmere, Northport, Oakdale, Oceanside, Old Bethpage, Old Westbury, Oyster Bay, Patchogue, Plainview, Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson Station, Port Washington, Quogue, , Ridge, Riverhead, Rockville Centre, Rocky Point, Ronkonkoma, Roosevelt, Roslyn, Roslyn Heights, Saint James, Sands Point, Sayville, Sea Cliff, Seaford, Selden, Shirley, Shoreham, Smithtown, Sound Beach, South Hempstead, Southampton, Stony Brook, Syosset, Uniondale, Upton, Valley Stream, Wading River, Wantagh, West Babylon, West Hempstead, West Islip, West Sayville, Westbury, Westhampton, Westhampton Beach, Williston Park, Woodbury, Woodmere, Wyandanch, Yaphank

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