Investigating Sleep and Dementia using Sensor Technology

Sleep disturbances occur frequently with aging and, especially, in people with dementia. They pose a common problem in long-term care facilities, both for patients and caregivers. For patients, a poor sleep quality decreases the quality of life and increases the risk of depression, cardiovascular disease and even mortality. For caregivers, sleep deprivation often results in behavioural problems and an increased risk of falls. Despite the size of the problem, in practice, sleep disturbances are often not sufficiently diagnosed and prematurely treated with hypnotics rather than non-pharmaceutical interventions. These medications carry the risk for a range of side effects and are often not effective. Currently, insight is lacking in how often sleeping interventions are used in long-term care facilities for the elderly, both pharmaceutically and non-pharmaceutically, and in how patients respond to these interventions. The Momo BedSense is a device that offers the opportunity to objectively study sleep quantity and quality in a non-invasive manner. With the help of the Momo BedSense, this study aims to gain insight into which sleeping interventions are prescribed in practice and their effects on both sleep and the patient's health outcomes.