Of marching (and sleeping) to a different beat

Circadian rhythms: all biological organisms are subject to them, (at least terrestrial ones) and they follow the twenty-four hour cycle of our planet (perhaps, on other worlds, circadian rhythms follow an eight hour, or twenty four minute cycle, but that is a matter for the great sci-fi authors to address.)

I want to begin by saying that this is in no way to be construed as a scientific article, backed by hours of expensive research. This is based purely on my casual knowledge and some years of personal observation.

I’m sure everyone has heard (or perhaps said) “I’m a morning person.” Or the opposite; some people just don’t seem to function well before noon. The late sleeper is probably not a lazy person, but merely responding to their natural body rhythms.

I’m fairly certain that human beings, in general, are considered diurnal, meaning they are awake in the day and sleep at night, as opposed to nocturnal creatures, such as bats, which terrorize us by flying into our hair after dark (a myth, by the way) and raccoons, which terrorize our trash cans after the sun goes down.

I have known people who worked the overnight shift for years, and seemed to thrive on it, as if they were as nocturnal as a bat. Myself, I worked the third shift for a time, and never could seem to get in sync with it; I would stumble around my days, catnapping here and there, always feeling out of sorts and as if I was a step behind the clock. On the other hand, I can wake up at four a.m., grab a cup of coffee and be ready to take on anything the world has to throw at me.

Our lives can be greatly improved if we listen to our own body clocks and live accordingly. I controlled my migraines for years by simply figuring out when my optimum time for sleep was and sticking to it. If I deviated... well, it wasn’t pretty.

What does all this have to do with either writing or caregiving, you ask... since that is what this blog is supposed to be about.

Well, elders, of course, also have their own circadian rhythms, and if a caregiver wants to enhance their quality of life, it is best to recognize that individual’s timing and organize their days around it.

Again, I can best explain this using a facility vs. home environment. In a nursing facility, everyone is on the same schedule. They pretty much have to be, considering the number of residents each employee has to take care of in a day. So, between six and eight every morning the new shift comes on, gets all the residents out of bed and into wheelchairs on up on walkers and shuffle them off to the dining room for breakfast.

At least a portion of those residents will slump at the table, uninterested in food or conversation, quite possibly snoring away in their chairs. Then, after that lovely meal, they might be escorted to an activity, or physical therapy, where they will continue to slump and snore in spite of the staff’s best efforts to engage them.

I had one particular lady (I will call her “Helen”) who did this in a rehab facility, and they finally sent her home with twenty-four hour care in a wheelchair, saying she would likely never walk again.

At first, when we got her home, the overnight staff, thinking they were being conscientious, always got her up at seven o’clock in the morning, dressed and at the table before I came in at eight o’clock. There she would be, slumped in her wheelchair, ignoring breakfast, cranky and out of sorts until well after noon.

So I told the overnight shift to leave her alone in the mornings, and to let her sleep until she was ready to get up. The next morning she slept until ten o’clock, but when she awoke she was cheerful and cooperative and very hungry! She ate her breakfast and we went out for a walk in the sunshine (pushing her wheelchair) and all in all we had a pretty good day.

The night staff put her to bed at nine... and she had a miserable, restless night.

So, next step was telling the night shift to let her stay up until she announced she was ready for bed. Within a week, she had established a pattern: bed around midnight, up between nine and ten. Within a week after that, she was regularly doing her physical therapy. Within a month, she was back up using her walker.

This has been true of all of the clients I have cared for at home. Some prefer to rise before the sun and go to their beds at eight o’clock. Some just prefer to sleep a few hours at a time around the clock. Whatever; they function best when allowed to follow their own natural rhythms.

Sometimes we can discover a client’s rhythms by talking to them or their families, and asking them what their sleep cycle has been for the last eight or nine decades (although many of us go against those natural rhythms due to necessities of work schedules.) Other times, we just need to sit back and observe.

If you wonder about your own circadian rhythm, the best way to figure it out is to take a few days off your normal routine (at home; travelling tends to put us out of whack) and stop living by the clock. Go to bed when you are sleepy, get up when you wake. After a few days, your body will gratefully fall into its own groove... and I can pretty much guarantee you will feel more refreshed and rested than you have in years.

Try it. And if you have a loved one in your life that seems to be constantly tired, out of sorts and cranky... well, try giving them a few days off, too.