NONPHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF SLEEP AND WAKE DISTURBANCES IN AGING AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - CHRONOBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Numerous studies indicate a deterioration of nighttime sleep and dayti me cognitive performance in elderly people and Alzheimer patients. As a result of the increasing number of elderly people and Alzheimer pati ents in the western society, attention for these problems has grown. H owever, so far, the major research effort has been concentrating on th e development of pharmacological therapies for an isolated age-related problem. In the present review it is argued that several age-related problems with sleep and wakefulness may reflect a dampening of circadi an rhythm amplitudes. Non-pharmacological manipulation of circadian rh ythms by means of various external stimuli appears to be effective in improving sleep and cognitive functioning in elderly people and Alzhei mer patients.