One of the most common times of the day that senior citizens fall is in the late evening through the night. Unfortunately, many senior citizens don’t have someone keeping an eye out for them during these hours. When they don’t have someone around, there is more of a chance of them getting injured from a fall or not getting the treatment they need fast enough if they do get an injury caused by the fall.

With this being said, there are some things that family caregivers can do to help prevent nighttime falls in their elderly loved ones. One of the most important things you can do is to find out more about what commonly causes nighttime falls in senior citizens. If you know about these causes, you can better help to prevent them for your elderly loved one.

Side Effects from Medications

One of the things that most commonly causes nighttime falls in the elderly is side effects from medications. Some of these side effects include:

Home Care Hickville, NY: Nighttime Falls

  • Balance issues
  • Lightheadedness
  • Extreme fatigue
  • Sedative effects
  • Nausea

Is your elderly loved one taking medications that cause them to have these side effects at night? If so, it might be best for you or a home care provider to stay at their house during the night to help prevent falls.

Issues with Sleep Quality

Another common cause of nighttime falls in senior citizens is issues with their sleep quality. For example, if your elderly loved one has insomnia, they may be extremely tired at night, but still unable to fall asleep. If they try to get up out of bed when they are that tired, it increases their risk of falling and getting hurt. If your elderly loved one does have sleep issues, whether it is insomnia or something else, it would be a good idea for someone to stay with your elderly loved one during the night. Not only can the person who is there help to prevent falls, they can be a companion for your elderly loved one if they can’t sleep.

Vision Problems

Does your elderly loved one have vision problems? If so, they are more likely to trip on things during the night because they can’t see well. For example, your elderly loved one may need to use the bathroom at night. However, if they can’t see well, they may trip over the rug in the bathroom.

Conclusion

These are some of the things that commonly cause nighttime falls for senior citizens. If you are caring for your elderly loved one, but aren’t usually around at nighttime, it may be a good idea to hire elderly care providers to be there. These providers can help to lower your elderly loved one’s chances of calling throughout the night.

If you or an aging loved-one is considering home care in Hickville, NY please contact the caring staff at Brookville Homecare today. 516-802-7722

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560761/