Whether morning or night, you want to guarantee the comfort and well-being of your aging relatives. Reports in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine have shown that up to 50% of adults over the age of 60 have reported difficulty sleeping, while insomnia prevalence ranges between 30% and 48%.
With sleep issues so common among our elderly population, professional overnight care offers a solution that might just allow you to rest easy knowing your loved one can sleep peacefully. Our experience working with older adults and their loved ones has given us the knowledge to guide you through determining if your loved one might benefit from home care for seniors.
Professional Overnight Care 101
Professional overnight care occurs when a hired caregiver, either full-time or short-term hourly, tends to an older adult during the night. This care may include assisting with the patient’s bedtime routine or monitoring for any disturbances that may impede a full night’s rest. The caregiver may be a live-in caretaker or explicitly hired to cover for the full-time caregiver.
Professional overnight care is just one of many specialized care services that professional home care assistance agencies, such as Companion Care, provide. Depending on the needs of an individual and their circumstances, overnight care can be adjusted to suit your loved one’s nighttime routine.
Types of Overnight Care
Due to the highly personalized nature of overnight care, an overnight care plan can vary from basic care to highly specialized treatment. Some of the most common things include:
Before Bed Exercise
Light exercise throughout the day can improve sleep and health. This is especially true for older individuals, who may struggle to exercise safely on their own. An overnight caretaker can monitor any late-night exercises or suggest light exercises that can help with deep rest.
Preparing Evening Snacks
If dinner is not enough to satisfy, an overnight caretaker can help prepare healthy, simple snacks before bed. These snacks can ensure a loved one is eating healthy and help avoid troublesome late-night wanderings to the fridge.
Medication Assistance
It can be easy to forget small but essential things late at night. If medications must be administered late at night, an overnight caretaker can help ensure that they are taken on time and in the correct dosages.
Preparing for Bed
As we age, finding the most comfortable way to sleep can be much more difficult. An overnight caretaker can assist with changing for bed and assisting aging individuals with mobility issues by not only getting into bed but also finding a comfortable position to rest for the night.
Hygiene
Whether ensuring a commode is easily accessible at night or assisting with bathtime before bed, a professional overnight caretaker can help guarantee an aging relative is clean and ready for bed.
Companionship
Isolation among older adults has become a common problem. Studies show that social isolation can negatively impact their health. Night can sometimes exacerbate this sense of isolation and even increase panic and anxiety. An overnight caretaker offers the companionship that can ease these worries.
Fall Prevention
Whether from a history of sleepwalking, sundown syndrome, or frequent late-night bathroom trips, the threat of a fall for an elderly individual is high. The presence of a caretaker throughout the night can serve not only to reduce but entirely prevent many nighttime accidents from occurring by monitoring the late-night behavior of an aging individual.
Does My Loved One Need Overnight Care?
Determining what kind of care a loved one needs can feel like a daunting task to do on your own. But thankfully, you don’t need to go through it alone. With our complimentary, no-obligation consultations, we’ll discuss your loved one’s health, daily routine, and any specific concerns you may have noticed to determine the ideal care plan to ensure your loved one is cared for both night and day.
Before contacting us to discuss comprehensive care plans, we suggest reviewing a checklist of common reasons why someone might need overnight care. If you or your loved one ticks any of these boxes, consider professional overnight home care.
Checklist
- A recent major hospital visit
- Signs or Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s/Dementia
- Intense anxiety or loneliness from isolation
- Noticeable signs of self-neglect
- Frequent sleepwalking
- Bedrest requirements due to illness and chronic disease
- Mobility issues
- The primary caretaker requires respite due to travel, job, or fatigue
- Sundown Syndrome
Choosing A Caregiver
Companion Care of Georgia has made it our mission to serve the aging citizens of Southeast Georgia with compassion and professionalism through customized plans for their lifestyles and needs.
Whether providing long-term or short-term respite care, our skilled caretakers have the expertise to offer non-medical care, personal assistance, and superior service, which is needed to provide individuals with the quality of life care they deserve.