How to improve care for someone with Alzheimer’s, Asperger’s, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (Part 3)
By Doug Moore
“Sleeping Six Hours or Less Linked to Higher Dementia Risk, Study Finds*”
“People age 50 or 60 who regularly slept six hours or less each night were more likely than those who slept seven hours to be diagnosed with dementia, according to the study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Nature Communications.”*
*Source: Wall Street Journal April 20, 2021
As mentioned in previous posts in this series, my Uncle Mike was diagnosed with dementia a couple of years ago, and spent his last few months living a senior care center and suffering from declining health which caused a host of issues, including falls, disrupted sleep, and respiratory issues. Our Xealei product can help people like my Uncle Mike who are suffering from Alzheimer’s, Asperger’s or Autism Spectrum Disorders.
In this blog post, I’m focusing on the importance of sleep monitoring and tracking in caring for people living with these disorders in residential facilities.
Wearable Sleep Monitoring
We are in a unique time in our history, with so many studies being conducted on the cause and effect of dementia. The referenced article shows a direct tie to sleeping six hours or less each night. Over this last year, the disruptive impact of COVID-19 means sleep focus has taken a back seat; the repercussions of which will continue to be realized in years to come.
A sleep tracker can make an educated guess about sleep stages. The only way to accurately identify what stage of sleep a person is experiencing is to measure brain activity during a clinical sleep study (polysomnography). None of the consumer devices on the market capture this kind of data.
Most sleep trackers measure sleep quantity and quality by using accelerometers, small motion detectors. Accelerometers measure how much movement a person is making while asleep. This data is then analyzed using an algorithm to estimate sleep time and quality.
Most wearable sleep trackers leverage actigraphy, where an actigraph sensor is worn around a person’s wrist. Many smartphone sleep tracking apps, on the other hand, rely on the phone’s accelerometer to measure body movement and assess whether the person is asleep or awake. Unfortunately, many people living with Alzheimer’s, Asperger’s, or Autism Spectrum Disorder can’t tolerate wearing a sleep tracking device.
Xealei for Sleep Monitoring
Xealei is purely a contactless, non-invasive, non-intrusive monitoring system that works with advanced AI features and measures movement to the millimeter. There is no video or audio captured, so it can be used in bedrooms or bathrooms to monitor fall detection, seizures, respiratory and sleep patterns. The information captured can help to monitor sleep patterns and provide a sleep score based on movement measured to the millimeter and also track patterns of behavior that may occur in sleep and wakefulness, which can lead to other actions related to respiration, fall detection, or seizures.
All of the capabilities of Xealei are designed to help caregivers provide improved care for patients or residents living with Alzheimer’s, Asperger’s, or Autism Spectrum Disorder. I invite you to read the other blog posts related to this topic and investigate how Xealei can help provide an improved level of care for those who need it most.