Q & A – What is Sundowning?

A word that comes up when we’re discussing dementia and Alzheimer’s is “sundowning.” 

What is that? I’m asked.

In late afternoon or evening, Alzheimer’s symptoms often seem to become worse.  The person with Alzheimer’s may become more restless, confused, disagreeable, agitated, and paranoid late in the day.  Doctors don’t know exactly why it occurs and what causes it; however, it exists, more pronounced in some people than others, or more intense at one stage of Alzheimer’s than another.

Doctors wonder if the dimmer light has something to do with it. Or is it tiredness, too busy a schdeule, overstimulation and other situations?

My mom’s roommate seemed to associate late afternoon to the time of day her children used to come home from school.  She often said to me, “I’ve got to get home.  The children will be coming back from school.  I’m always there.”  Then she’d want me to take her home.

Some instinct told her this was the time of day her children, when young, arrived home from school.  She was back living in that era, so became agitated if she thought she wouldn’t be at home when they got there.

My mom wanted to go outside in late afternoon to “feed her chickens.”  I finally realized that years ago, when I was a child on the farm, this was the time of day Mother fed the chickens for the night and gathered eggs.  As the sun went down and the day grew darker, Mother knew it was time to see to the chickens.

More information about sundowning is available at the Alzheimer’s Association web site: www.alz.org and the Mayo Clinic site: www.mayoclinic.com/health/sundowning/HQ01463  as well as other web sites related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.