Sleeping problems are common in elderly people with intellectual disabilities who live in a care institution
Older people with intellectual disabilities have more frequent and more severe sleeping problems than healthy peers. There is too little daylight in their homes for a healthy sleep-wake rhythm. This is apparent from the thesis of Mylène Böhmer of Erasmus MC.
Sleeping problems are common among elderly people with intellectual disabilities who live in a care institution. 67 percent of them sleep too little or have trouble staying asleep. This is 38 percent among healthy peers from the ERGO study. The sleeping problems are also more serious. Older people with an intellectual disability lie awake about half an hour longer, up to 2.5 hours a night, and sleep 15 minutes less. Researchers see that there is a relationship between these sleep problems and health complaints, especially mood and behavioral problems.
firelight
Researcher Mylène Böhmer noticed that elderly people with intellectual disabilities are exposed to atmospheric light for most of the day. This does not meet the recommended amount of light needed for a healthy sleep-wake rhythm or good mood. For her research, more than 80 elderly people with intellectual disabilities wore a light sensor. ‘Only more than 30 minutes a day, the light intensity of the residents is comparable to that of daylight,’ says Böhmer. That gave her the idea to investigate whether better lighting has an effect on the sleep rhythm and their mood.
Increasing good light exposure has a positive effect on mood in the short term
Effect
Dynamic artificial lighting was installed in six homes of the care organization Middin. This lighting follows the daylight cycle of the sun and provides sufficient light during the day and atmospheric light in the evening. Böhmer was surprised by the results: ‘The mood of the 54 residents in particular improved within 14 weeks of installing this lighting. Depressive symptoms, hyperactivity, but also apathy and irritability decreased. Unfortunately, one year after the first measurement, there was no longer any positive effect, not even on their sleeping problems.’
Sleeping habits
Despite the promising short-term finding, Böhmer believes that additional residential lighting is not the only solution. Although this was not the focus of the research, there is still much to be gained in the area of sleeping habits, according to the PhD student. ‘Think of sufficient exercise during the day, but also of attention to personal sleep needs. Since healthcare is often organized according to a strict schedule, this is not easy. To improve sleep quality in this target group, healthcare providers should be given more time and financial resources to meet individual sleep needs,” Böhmer concludes.
This dissertation is a collaboration between care organization Middin and the chair of Medicine for the mentally handicapped at Erasmus MC.
For her research, Böhmer also used data from the ERGO study, a long-term study among the over-45s in the Rotterdam district of Ommoord.
Consult the source and/or provider for more information about this message. News may change, include errors or inaccuracies. Also read our disclaimer and please report messages, reactions and/or images that go against our conditions.
Click on the tags below for relevant posts, if any…