Sleep in Other Conditions: Sleep in the Caregiver

A considerable portion of the population is involved in caring for a person with dementia, an adult with some illness, or a child with a medical condition. Among the multiple burdens associated with caregiving is difficulty sleeping. Research shows that caregivers experience impairments in sleep quantity, sleep quality, and considerable night-to-night variability. Interestingly, disrupted caregiver sleep is not perfectly correlated with the care recipient\u27s sleep or nocturnal caregiving responsibilities. Rather, difficulty sleeping in caregivers can develop as a chronic condition, distinct from the direct demands of caregiving, and can persist in the absence of the caregiving responsibilities. Treatment should differentiate between situational and chronic insomnia and shape interventions accordingly