What can I do to help sleepless mother? (From Lancashire Telegraph)

What can I do to help sleepless mother?

12:27pm Friday 10th April 2009 in

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My 79-year-old mother hasn’t slept properly for months. She is always worrying about not sleeping, and she has started drinking in the evenings because she says it helps. I think it just makes her more confused at night.

Older people who think they don’t sleep often sleep as long as anyone else – according to sleep laboratory tests. If your mother can manage to come to terms with her sleeplessness it will help a lot. In the meantime, organize her bedroom to make it much easier for her to drop off. A radio with a snooze button helps by allowing her to listen to her favourite music or talk programme last thing. Sleeping tablets don’t work as well in older people than in under-70s, so you would have to take your doctor’s advice on whether they would be useful in your mother’s case. It’s a good idea to take her to the doctor anyway, as the anxiety and sleeplessness may be a sign of early dementia, and you must rule that out. Drinking may help put her to sleep, but she will wake up early, confused and possibly with a hangover!