Alzheimer’s, a Solution

Once we retire, our habits change. We no longer have to sleep at 10 p.m. to get up at 6:30 a.m. for work. Since we have time to relax, men take a nap after a hearty lunch. Women, on the other hand, eat a normal quantity of food at noon so their waist remain the same. An afternoon nap isn’t required. They don’t feel the need.

Our mother loves to watch variety shows in the evening. She’s cheerful and often falls asleep in front of the TV in the living room, sitting on the lazyboy for a few hours or lying on the couch. This sleep is incomplete: the brain rests, but not the body, which is in an uncomfortable position. Men, on the other hand, prefer a full night’s sleep in bed.

Turning off the TV at 1 a.m., Mom goes to bed in her room. She can’t sleep anymore, because her brain is rested and fully active, but her body is trying to impose the usual eight-hour sleep rhythm, as it’s tired. Her eyes will be wide open for part of the night. If she gets up at the same early hour as her husband, her brain and body will have a restorative rest of only five hours.

At breakfast, Mom’s brain is fairly tired. And as the years go by, this organ becomes increasingly exhausted. So, to preserve itself, the brain sleeps partially during the day. It calls on the hypothalamus to send it melatonin, the neurohormone of sleep, so that it can rest. As a result, a half-sleeping memory will remember only a few minutes of a conversation, like the limited recollections of a dream. This is Alzheimer’s.

For Mom, we then have a sleep/wake disorder of the brain (memory) that isn’t synchronized with the time of day like her body. Dad rarely has this problem, as his restorative afternoon nap and habit of sleeping in his cozy bed when tired, preserves him from Alzheimer’s. This mental health complication first came to prominence for women with the advent of the television set in the 1950s and also with the arrival of radio in the early 20th century.

=Corrective Actions: The Low-cost Solution=

Mom will have to record her programs broadcast after 10 p.m. and watch them the next day in the afternoon. She’ll then sleep comfortably in her bed in her private room as Dad.

=Corrective Actions: Relaxing music=

If Mom has trouble closing her eyes on the first few nights of the correction stage, she should listen to nature music, such as sea waves crashing on the beach and rocks. Or rain music falling on the leaves and on the wooden balcony. Mom will sleep peacefully after 45 to 60 minutes. The loudspeaker should switch off automatically after 90 minutes of listening, to give her auditory system a complete rest.

=Corrective Actions: The Comfort Solution=

With all the family contributing, we’ll buy a bed with a mattress that can be adjusted robotically with a remote control. Mom will then be able to watch television in her room, lying down and relaxing in the comfort of her bed. Sleep will be restorative for body and mind. The TV will need to be programmed to switch off after four hours of broadcasting.

=Last Corrective Action: The Snack=

If sleep is a long time coming in the evening, a sweet snack such as two slices of peanut butter toast with homemade jam is ideal. It will operate our digestive system, which will then use a good quantity of oxygen. This has the effect of making this gas scarce for the functioning of our brain, making us drowsy.

The physiques of middle-aged people work in the opposite way to those of toddlers when consuming sugar: it activates children, but for us, it slows us down. The brain and body go into rhythm when both are at rest.

=Conclusion=

With these sleep routines to follow for male-female subjects with mild or acute Alzheimer’s, it will take one season, three months, to get over this discomfort of the brain partially absent during the day. You’ll stay close to me, Mom, and we’ll keep on talking for hours on the phone. I love you dearly, your son.

Text by Steve L. Rodrigue — Version 3.0 — May 17, 2024 — steveofcanada.com — Québec CITY, CANADA.