Recently, the use of activity monitoring has led to several interesting findings related to activity/rest issues in the care and management of Alzheimer patients. Evidence suggests that the “sleep” disturbances commonly reported in Alzheimer patients are actually a disturbance of the normal circadian cycle. This seems to be a normal progression of the disease and as such is not likely treatable with behavioral or pharmacological methods. These altered activity/rest patterns have direct implications for such areas as physical and pharmacological restraint use, supervision and injury risk, access and mobility issues, hospital ward design, and staffing policies.
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