Discover Homefield Grange

Homefield Grange Care Home provides dementia, residential and nursing care on a permanent and short stay basis.

Often, a person living with dementia will need more care and support as their condition progresses, and there may come a time when moving into a care home is the best option.

We know from over two decades of experience, that dementia is different for everyone, so the care our residents receive is too.

So many things define us as individuals, but dementia doesn’t have to. We see the person behind it, and help them live the life they want, to the full.

We get to know our residents and provide care that’s as individual as they are. From their living environments to their care and from everyday activity to their food, we tailor every detail no matter how big or small.

Promoting Independence

Everyone wants to have meaning to their day, and people living with dementia are no different. Residents with dementia are supported to make choices and decisions about their lives.

There is always plenty to do, and the team take guidance from residents and their families to plan varied and fulfilling activities to suit them personally.

Award winning training

We train every member of our team with our unique award winning ‘My World’ dementia training accredited by City and Guilds.

Our training highlights the importance of meaningful activities and a stimulating environment for people living with dementia, as well as addressing clinical aspects of care, nutrition and the meal time experience.

Reasons to choose us

As the only care home group with its own accredited City and Guilds dementia training, as well as dementia friendly design, and latest technology, you can trust that we go further.

Ask for our full guide to dementia care: Call freephone 0808 223 5401 or visit caringhomes.org

By Dr Armorel Wood

WHY DO WE SLEEP?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE ASLEEP?

HOW DO WE SLEEP BETTER?

Sleep is essential to allow us to recover from the physical and emotional strains of the day and recharge us for the new day ahead. As a generalisation we are awake for 16 hours and sleep for 8 hours- 1/3 of our lives spent asleep!

There are three sleep inducers:

An INTERNAL BODY CLOCK (circadian rhythm) that is set by periods of light and dark

A SLEEP SIGNAL (adenosine) that builds up as we are awake and resets at night

RELAXATION activities as a pre bed routine.

We can adjust our lifestyle in order to maximise the capacity of these inducers to get us, and keep us, asleep. Firstly, we need to get up at approximately the same time each day, even at weekends, to allow the sleep signal time to build up to a maximum by bedtime. We also need to go to bed at approx. the same time each night. i.e., staying awake for the same time period each day.

Diet, dark/light exposure and temperature can interfere with this process. Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine the sleep signal and that is how it keeps us awake. Therefore, if you have trouble sleeping you should not have caffeinated drinks after about 2pm. Alcohol in the evening although it may make us sleepy ultimately messes with the quality of our sleep so should be limited to one unit with our early evening meal. Eating at regular times also helps our internal body clock so it is best to have breakfast on waking and our main meal at lunch with a light early evening meal. Our eyes have receptors that are sensitive to morning sunlight and evening sunlight so exposing ourselves to natural full spectrum light as early as possible by doing a short walk for about 30 minutes and again in the early evening helps the sleep-wakesleep cycle. At bedtime our bodies like to be cool, this can be achieved by a hot bath/shower which causes the skin to vasodilate and our bodies to lose heat. Bedrooms need to be about 17 degrees; a dark, tidy and quiet place, a safe, comfortable haven to relax. Bedtime routines including turning all screens off one hour before bed and those that include meditation, reading, music, breathing exercises or yoga all help set us up for a better night.

There are three phases of sleep that occur in cycles throughout the night. The phases include:

DEEP SLEEP which cleans and refreshes the nerve pathways in the brain and refreshes the tissues in our bodies.

REM/DREAM SLEEP that acts to process and reset our emotions from the day.

LEARNING SLEEP that helps store and consolidate memories and learning from the previous day.

We have 4-5 cycles of these sleep phases each night with most of our deep sleep before 3am and most of our REM sleep after 3am. After each cycle we wake momentarily (which we may not remember). Thus, a total of 10 min awake at night with 20 min falling asleep is considered normal.

If you have trouble sleeping, try not to worry about being awake as this leads to outpouring of stress hormones and puts your body on high alert. You need to try and change your expectations of being in bed to expect to fall asleep away from expecting to stay awake. Enjoy resting and relaxing, bring your thoughts back to the here and now and focus on your senses and what you can feel, practise your breathing, count, use calm music, sleep podcasts, familiar audiobooks with headphones.

Do not worry about being awake as this leads to outpouring of stress hormones and puts your body on high alert. The more you worry about not falling asleep the more you wake yourself up! You need to change your expectations of being in bed to expect to fall asleep away from expecting to stay awake. Enjoy resting and relaxing practise your breathing, count, use calm music, familiar audiobooks. You ideally need to lie in bed with your eyes closed in a state of quiet wakefulness while waiting for sleep to come. Instead of fighting to get to sleep you need to practise accepting the fact that you are still awake and welcome any unwanted thoughts or sensations instead of resisting them. It is the struggle with wakefulness that does the damage not the wakefulness itself. Any attempts to fight, or avoid your insomnia signals your brain that you are being threatened in some way. This automatically triggers your innate survival response and prepares your mind and body for fight or flight and alert wakefulness so you need to change your relationship with your thoughts rather than struggle to change them. Accepting and welcoming your insomnia is the key to getting you back to sleep!

Dr Armorel Wood Private Counsellor

M: 07765 915 211

E: woodarmorel@gmail.com

W: mapletreetherapy.org.uk