We often connect older age with memory loss and depression. And, studies have shown that people over the age of 65 have complaints about their sleep, but one 75-year-old man –Charlie—claimed he didn’t have trouble sleeping. Depressed and forgetful, he was seeing a neurologist who specialized in dementia.
Mood and memory are often multi-factorial in elderly patients. Charlie was indeed depressed and in the early stages of presumed Alzheimer’s disease. But he also suffered from multiple sleep problems that were only uncovered after sleep testing.
Doctors started him on medication for Alzheimer’s and depression. And, once he started sleep apnea therapy, he began waking at 3 a.m. wide awake. Believe it or not, he had been going to bed at 7 p.m. and sleeping until 7 a.m.—it was something he’d done for a long time. When he was getting quality sleep, they learned Charlie only needed eight to eight and a half hours of sleep per night.
Charlie was diagnosed with advanced sleep phase syndrome. People with this disorder get very sleepy early in the evening. Their sleep Is otherwise normal if they don’t have accompanying sleep disorders. It’s just that most people don’t want to start their day at 3 a.m.
So, for an elderly man who was going downhill quickly, a simple CPAP (and other doctor recommended treatments) had him feeling like himself again. The more we know about sleep apnea, the more we can advocate for ourselves and our elderly friends and family members.
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