Health Tip: When Alzheimer's Affects Sleep

Some people with Alzheimer's disease -- characterized by a loss of brain tissue -- have trouble sleeping and/or nighttime wandering.

The National Sleep Foundation suggests how to improve sleep in people with Alzheimer's:

• Make sure the sleep environment is as cool and dark as possible.
• Create a consistent schedule of waking and going to bed.
• Expose the person with Alzheimer's to bright light soon after waking.
• As bedtime nears, keep lighting dim.
• Establish regular and simple routines to complete daily chores.
• Make sure the home environment is safe -- with no knives, guns or matches in reach.
• Keep a relatively busy schedule of activities.
• Get some daily exercise.