Understanding sleep

Sleep matters

Understanding sleep is the first of three modules in the course, Sleep matters. This course has been designed to highlight some of the issues older people have with their sleep and what nurses and care workers can do to optimise sleep for those living in aged care. Completing this course will help you better manage situations where a person is having trouble with their sleep and gain an understanding of the association between sleep and dementia.

Module description

This module introduces you to sleep in the context of older people and specifically, people living with dementia. We unpack what happens in the brain during sleep, factors influencing sleep and the effects of poor or disrupted sleep.

In this video module you’ll learn about why sleep is so important to our health and wellbeing, see an animation of the glymphatic system and hear from six sleep experts about the factors influencing sleep: depression; physical activity and diet; sleep apnoea; medications; light and circadian rhythm; and mental and social engagement.

Learning Outcomes

To be able to understand:

• the importance and role of sleep, and what happens when we sleep (glymphatic system)
• how sleep patterns change with age
• the effects of disrupted sleep.

To be able to describe factors influencing sleep:

• depression
• physical activity and diet
• sleep apnoea
• medications
• light & circadian rhythms
• mental & social engagement.