So what are the risk factors? This is a hot topic in the medical field right now, and it's only going to heat up more. In turn, minimizing those factors could help lessen or eliminate episodes of the syndrome. It’s important to consider risk factors for sundowning because if caregivers can help identify a person’s risk factors, they can work to reduce them. Occurrences of sundowning may vary in intensity and duration. They may also exhibit behaviors like refusing to take medication, blurring the lines between reality and dreams, or insisting on going “home” to their children even if they live in a nursing home or assisted living facility.Įven if a person has dementia, during a sundowning episode they will seem more confused, nervous and tense than their baseline of behaviors during the daytime. Sometimes those who are suffering a sundowning episode may even experience hallucinations. These behaviors may be present in any combination, but they will become worse around nightfall and may continue throughout the evening.
How do you know if someone you care for is suffering from sundowning syndrome? Observe whether they experience some common behaviors at sunset or at night.īehaviors you may observe in someone experiencing sundowning syndrome include: Sundowning is a collection of disruptive behaviors that, unlike delirium, tend to only occur during the evening hours. It is unknown whether gender or race factor into whether someone is more likely to experience sundowning, meaning it is an equal opportunity syndrome, according to current medical knowledge. But if a person has received a diagnosis of dementia - the most common type of which is Alzheimer's - that range increases dramatically, from 2.4 percent to 66 percent. Medical literature about sundowning estimates that it occurs in as few as 2.4 percent of people to as much as 25 percent. But talk to someone who works with elderly patients and they will be familiar with the concept of sundowning and its associated behaviors.
AT THE END OF THE SUN LIFE IT WILL BECOME WHAT MANUAL
You won’t find sundowning in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - it’s not considered a diagnosis. What differentiates sundowning from delirium is the associated behaviors worsen in the evening.ĭespite the fact that more than 75 years have passed since the syndrome was first observed, a clear cause for the condition remains unknown. Sundowning syndrome was first described in the literature of modern medicine in 1941 by a British physician named Ewen Cameron, who called the condition “nocturnal delirium.” Cameron described patients who experienced disorientation, agitation, and panic around bedtime.
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