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Autumn from a dementia perspective
Autumn may be the most beautiful season of the year but to someone living with dementia, it can be a challenging time. Lots of things change – we lose daylight, days are shorter, the evenings are longer, pavements and roads can look quite different with fallen leaves all over them and all these things can make life more confusing than it already is.
It can be a frightening time
Probably the worst thing to experience is children/strangers coming and knocking on the door in the dark evenings, dressed up as ghosts or monsters, making lots of noise and being (hopefully only playfully) threatening. For those with dementia, it can be a frightening evening, full of startling noise and goings-on. The usual flow of their day or evening is disturbed and disrupted with confusing happenings. They may become disorientated as to what time it is – is it bedtime or time to get up? Of course there are things that can help orientate them, such as Day & Night Dementia Clocks, or the Rosebud Reminder Clock that also gives prompts when it is time to go to bed or to have a drink.
Support for Family CarersThe nicest thing to do is to visit your person with dementia around Halloween and just being there with them - giving them some company, distracting them from the noises by listening to music together, or chatting whilst browsing through an old family photo album, and perhaps quietly dealing with any unwanted visitors for them at the same time.