Unless you live in a sunshine state, you’re going to need this!

We all know how miserable it is when we can’t get a good night’s sleep. It's especially important when you are not getting enough sunshine during the day, and for most of us in the winter, with as much time as we spend inside (90% surveys say) we all need more sunshine. Sunshine kicks off our circadian rhythm, which is what sets our body clock to be able to sleep well at night. When we don’t have enough sun or sleep, we can get depressed, anxious, feel overly tired and just be a pain to be around - just ask your family.

Now imagine a colicky baby – only 100 times worse. How you say? Well, she’s 5’6” and weighs 135 lbs. She can’t hear very well, and she can’t sleep. She… is my beautiful, pleasant 96-year-old grandmother that has dementia and lives with me.

Our house has pretty much become one of those scenes in a movie, or like the Russian sleep experiment in the 1940’s where they see how long you can stay awake before going crazy. The only difference is we are trying to get my grandmother to go to sleep vs. keeping her awake.

Its 11 pm and she’s been up for almost 62 hours / 2 + days. She thinks we are lying to her about her grandsons (my brothers) and keeps telling me that something is horribly wrong, and we won’t tell her. I’m worn out, my husband’s worn out, my parents are worn-out and my beautiful, kind, classy grandmother has become a mean, paranoid, delusional nightwalker…

She has dementia and typically the issues revolve around if she has eaten or taken her medications. Although we have had nights where she did not sleep well, she now has what is known as ‘sundowner’s syndrome.' This is new, and it’s our 3rd 72 hour night walking event since Thanksgiving.

If we haven’t met before, and to provide some context, my 96-year grandmother, and my parents all live with my husband, our kids, and me. Things run pretty smooth, and my mother is the primary caregiver for my grandmother.

It’s sad and extremely challenging for all of us these past couple months. I never thought I would consider sending her to a memory care home (especially one that we could afford) but on this 3rd incident; the thought more than crossed my mind.

I keep thinking of my grandma and how wonderful she has always been to all of us, but it seems like some evil has taken over her body, like in one of my sci-fi shows, and at this point, I’ll do about anything to either get my grandma back, or get our lives back.

My husband and I’ve got to be on our best game at work and this is not helping. My mother has taken the brunt of the abuse as she cares for her nonstop in our house. She loves her mom immensely, but lack of sleep can make anyone crazy, and in the case of our multi-generational household we’re all going crazy….

Until I attended a futurist tech conference in LA. and found a gadget that quite simply is a MIRACLE for our family.

Our family went from being an Agatha Christie novel where people are scheming how to get rid of grandma (to put your mind at ease, no murder was ever spoken about, that I know of), to being a story of divine intervention, where the clouds of confusion, paranoia, and irritation were lifted and we all got to sleep 8 hours a night.

This is not a fairy tale – it’s a real-life miracle. The gadget looks like an iPod with earbuds. Instead of music, light is pulsed for 12 minutes into your ear and reaches your skull. This kicks off your circadian cycle and resets your clock, so you can sleep at the right time.

The research is so solid they are using this for SAD (seasonal affective disorder), jet lag and for elite athletes. Since we started using the device, my grandmother has slept through the night every night!!!!!!! My aunt who has trouble sleeping tried it and said it’s the best she has slept in years. This little light device has taken our lives from miserable to magical.

If you would like to learn more about how to sleep better or help someone you love to sleep better, click here. My hope is no one will ever have to experience what we did through the holidays with this simple tech gadget that will change your life for the better.

-Lisa

P.S. Please follow me at: www.LisaMCini.com!