"... that is completely normal. But if there are dramatic changes in someone’s sleep habits, where they are starting their morning at 3 a.m. or are unable to stay awake during the day, it can be a sign of dementia.... One change that can occur specifically with
dementia with Lewy bodies — another type of progressive brain disorder — is that a person might begin acting out their dreams. This is also true for
Parkinson’s disease, which is related to dementia with Lewy bodies. Ordinarily, our muscles become paralyzed while we’re in
REM sleep, which is when we tend to have the most vivid
dreams. But in these two neurodegenerative disorders, toxic proteins attack the cells in the brainstem that control sleep paralysis."
From
"Memory Loss Isn’t the Only Sign of Dementia/Here are five other common red flags to look out for" (NYT).
The other 4 are financial problems, personality changes, driving difficulties, and loss of smell.
I have loss of smell, so it was disconcerting to see that description of sleep.
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I've got what the neurologist tactfully calls "Parkinsonism". He defines it as having some of the symptoms of Parkinson's. He says I'll probably die of something else before it gets to be a problem so that's cheery. Anyway, my sense of smell is compromised. Here's a useful suggestion: get rid of the gas stove and buy an induction plate. The something else that causes my demise will not be a gas explosion.
My college cronies and I note that we now call it a night at about the same time that we had started our first beer, thirty years ago.
Same here. My brain doc calls it Essential Tremors. I still go surfing, ride a bike, whitewater raft, play guitar etc. But all at a lower skill level that before. I'm 71.
"Here's a useful suggestion: get rid of the gas stove and buy an induction plate."
I haven't used a gas stove since the 1980s.
I'm currently experimenting with eye shades, despite the drugged-out housewife stereotypes.
I want to know whether it helps keep me from being roused from deep sleep at first light.
Yes, I got rid of the gas stove a couple years ago. DH couldn't believe it, but I knew it was time.
Now that Biden is safely shunted aside, we can talk about Lewy Body Dementia.
Apparently older men with enlarged prostates are doomed to succumb to dementia. Older men know what I'm talking about.
After decades of struggling with insomnia, I had the time (after retirement) to do a sleep study. DX: Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Big surprise because I do not fit the usual criteria for OSA. Now I wear a C-Pap and sleep reasonably well, although never great. I have not used any sleep medication for the last 6+ years.
There are a few sleep hygiene habits that help, such as no TV in the bedroom.
I wake up every morning around 3 am. I do it because I am the caretaker of my 87 year old Mom, and she gets up at 5 am, so those 2 hours are the only 2 hours I have to myself a day.
My father was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2011 at age 66- he had the tremors and gait issues- at first barely noticeable to me but progressed over the years. The Lewy Body Dementia first started to reveal itself in 2015 when he started to have visual hallucinations- they would come and go every few months. However, in the Summer of 2017 he just suddenly started having sleeping disorders where he would roam the house all night long and then sleep fitfully during the day. His neurologist tried several different drug treatments regimens to help him sleep normally and we finally seemed to have found one that allowed him to return to a more normal sleep pattern in the Spring of 2018- for a couple of months that Summer he seemed to rally and return almost to normal but then developed a debilitating case of sciatica that left him unable to walk in mid July that year. The doctors prescribed pain-killers, steroids, and bedrest but his sleep disorder returned and he started trying to get out of the bed every single time we left him alone in the room and sometimes even when we were there to discourage him from trying. By early August he had given up and stopped eating and drinking and was dead by the end of the month.
Sealing the windows completely will make the room as dark as it will be at night even at noon. One alternative to eyeshades.
I have wondered about that as a contributing cause to my father's demise- he was up to use the bathroom 4-8 times a night during the last 6 years of his life that I observed.
The driving difficulties worries me. I find that I have to concentrate more on driving as the years pass. What used to be automatic requires constant attention.
Great. I wake up pretty regularly at 3am. I usually fight to keep my brain from grabbing onto a gear at that time. If my mind clicks in, I'm up for another 2+ hours. If I can keep it unattached to any solid ideas, I can fall back to sleep. I thought about pulling out my tablet and listening to some Kamala Harris as a way to keep my mind from engaging.
But now I'll be wondering about Lewy body disorder. And why Althouse had to put that out there.
If you're waking up frequently at night to pee, it might not be your prostate. Take a sleep test: Apnea causes you to gasp in your sleep, and drives up the CO2 levels in your blood. These trigger an adrenal response, as it does every time you are starved for oxygen (survival response). But this response cranks up your kidneys, too, producing more urine.
CPAPs are initially a pain, but you adapt quite quickly. Not a doctor, but once I started using the CPAP quite a few things changed for the better - and I have a mild case.
Dad was a vivid dreamer his whole life. Mom would sleep with an arm up because he would flail. He had the Parkinson's tremors and a PSA over 100. It was the prostate cancer that killed him. It spread into the spine.
These internet warnings are just fear fodder. It will be the old standards that get you, most likely.
I’ve struggled with sleep my entire life. I’ve tried everything, melatonin, Unisom, herbal teas, kava, heavy drinking…. I attribute my condition at least in part to 10 years of swing shift at the start of my career, I think it permanently rewired my brain. Recently, my best friend/ex-wife sent me some Trazadone, and together with a modest amount of alcohol, it’s helped immensely.
My mother and my wife both had Alzheimers. At 79, I get panicky every time I forget a word or forget why I walked into a room. My doc tells me these are normal signs of aging, no great comfort in itself. My sense of smell is normal, and I can draw the clock face without looking at my watch.
Aggie - Agree strongly. CPAP saved my life. 54 here. When I was tested, I had 29 incidents per hour. No wonder I was always tired.
Always had great sleep habits till menopause. Some 15 years later, they’re back to pretty good. I have the occasional night where I can fall asleep or wake up and can’t get back to sleep. I just try to read for awhile and that basically “resets” my brain. If I have a bad night, I know the next night will be good. I lost my sense of smell with a bad cold in about 2015. It came back but then it disappeared with Covid and never really came back. Sucks for someone with a lot of different perfumes.
My husband takes Trazadone and loves it. I tried it and it just made me dizzy,
As I have both them things, oldness and prostate issues, all I can say is aswlrgrunld gubrosammilat.
When I retired, I figured I'd just let my body decide my schedule. I've always been a night owl forced into a flippin' early bird schedule - so after about a week I found myself going to bed around 2-4 AM, waking around 9-10. Occasionally I'll take a nap during the day, maybe an hour or so, but it doesn't much change my sleep schedule when I do.
My lovely bride doesn't mind me being the night owl, we sleep in separate bedrooms due to my snoring, and she said she liked knowing someone was 'keeping watch' so to speak.
I can sleep when I need to, though - so when we're travelling it's fine.
Gents if getting up to pee at night is a problem then get yourself to a urologist. Tamsulosin for enlarge prostrated, Gemteesa for irritable bladder. Also get a home sleep study as you might also have sleep apnea. I had the trifecta, now quinella after having prostate reduction surgery. Melatonin helps a bit with the quality of sleep. The new CPAP machines are pretty quiet and the noise is a white noise and with the mask on, you can cover your head with a blanket and sleep in your own, dark cocoon.
That’s me. Both the wife and I go to sleep after midnight, wake up after 9 AM. I love naps, she doesn’t.
Aggie and PJ +3
I don't drink anything after 7 PM. Problem solved.
I look forward to a +/- 30-minute nap in the early afternoon. If I sleep past 5:30 AM -- regardless of bedtime -- it's a rare day.
Getting old is tough. On nights I have problems staying asleep I use cannabis[indica] tablets. Sleep well. But, I don't make it a routine, only as needed.
As a night person, my sleep habits have battled regular office hours most of my working life, and it's always been impossible to keep the post-lunch nap at bay (even as a kid).
I have a tendency to wake up about 4am, but I've learnt to throw another layer on the bedcovers which sends me back under until the alarm. Something to do with core temperature maybe?
Eye shades? A tick from me. Not every night, but they've helped me sometimes. Some kind of swaddling effect on the mind?
Both parents still had most of their marbles by the end (90). Hopefully I will. Everyone dies of something. No point stressing.
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