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Alzheimer's disease and other dementias affect the brain in a way that can cause sleep disturbances. We all know how we feel when we have a sleepless night. We're cranky, we're unsocial, and all we want to do the next day is nap.
Very often doctors prescribe medicine to help, and they do sometimes. But people with dementia are often overmedicated to begin with. Prescribing more increases the likelihood of drug interactions, and sleep medicines often cause other problems. The Alzheimer's Association makes this recommendation:
The risks of sleep-inducing medications for older people who are cognitively impaired are considerable. They include increased risk for falls and fractures, confusion, and a decline in the ability to care for oneself. If sleep medications are used, an attempt should be made to discontinue them after a regular sleep pattern has been established.
An effort should be made to establish and maintain a regular sleep pattern to lessen the need for medication. Bright light therapy can be a part of an overall program to do that. 
We offer several solutions. TheVerilux®
HappyLight Deluxe Sunshine Supplement Light System provides up to 10,000 LUX of white light that mimics sunlight. The HappyLight® Deluxe offers these features:
We recommend the HappyLight Deluxe for nursing homes and other medical care facilities, though it is also a perfect solution for home use. At a lower price, the Verilux®HappyLite®6000 Sunshine Supplement Light System delivers the same full spectrum light as the Deluxe, and has these features:
*Replacement bulbs are available for all of the lights featured here.
Special note: Researchers have found limited evidence that bright and blue light therapy may cause additional harm to people with pre-existing eye damage (including glaucoma and macular degeneration), and could increase the incidence of age related blindness. Medical professionals recommend people with pre-existing retinal conditions be tested prior to using any bright or blue light therapy system.
One of the more common causes of sleep problems stems from a disruption of our circadian rhythms. A circadian rhythm is a psychological, biological and physiological period that closely approximates a day. In humans, this biorhythm is governed by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a tiny group of cells located in the hypothalamus.
Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research found a marked decrease in the total cell mass of the suprachiasmatic nucleus in older people (80 to 100 years), and an even more pronounced reduction in people with Alzheimer's disease (mean age 78). This shrinkage could account for the sleep disorders that many people experience as they age (waking in the night or too early in the morning, daytime napping, etc.). These and other disorders common in the elderly are more common and more pronounced in people with Alzheimer's disease and many other dementias.
One of the characteristics that a circadian rhythm must have to be considered genuine is that it can be reset by an external stimulus. Each day the light/dark cycle and other environmental stimuli help maintain the rhythm so that it stays synchronous with the 24-hour day. If, however, the suprachiasmatic nucleus is destroyed completely, the sleep/awake cycle will be totally disrupted.
We should expect, then, that partial damage to the suprachiasmatic nucleus will effect sleeping patterns, not completely but to some extent. This is in agreement with the clinical findings: People with Alzheimer's disease and with other dementias that result in shrinkage to that part of the brain suffer more sleep disorders than otherwise healthy people of the same age.
An increasing amount of evidence shows that bright, full spectrum light, on the magnitude of 5000 LUX to 10,000 LUX, can reset the circadian rhythm in people suffering from Alzheimer's. Daily exposure to this type of light helps dementia patients with sleep disorders sleep longer and spend more time in deep sleep. As an added benefit, cognitive deterioration slowed with regular exposure to bright light, and symptoms of depression decreased.
Red light is not the same as full-spectrum (white) light. Full spectrum light contains the blue wavelengths, as well as all other visible wavelengths. The findings of this pilot study are consistent with others that have investigated the effects of bright, white light.
