Too much TV and music as overstimulating

MBBny

We have 24/7 care for my Mom. I and several of my siblings feel that the

caregivers use the TV excessively, sometimes all day into the night. We have asked repeatedly for them to turn off the TV or music from the TV, while she is resting/sleeping or doing another activity.  When she is watching the TV she seems to go into a trance and won't interact. She is still able to do other activities - reading, some needlework.

 I had learned that too much noise is overstimulating for dementia patients and can lead to difficult behaviors and difficulty in getting quality sleep at night. Is this not true? And any advice on how to remedy this with the caregivers?

Cherjer

This may end with watching tv. My DH used to watch tv (and I would often mention that our electrical bill would go up as the tv always on) but now has no interest. In fact he has no interest in anything except driving in the car and walking. I do not think this is an issue for you and your siblings to worry about...does give the caregiver and your mom something to do...I wish my dh would still be able to watch and follow along...please be happy with what your mom can do.

​fesk

Hi MBBny. 

Not sure where your mom is at in the progression, but a good routine is what worked for us for years. You want to be sure your mom is getting different types of activity/exercise/stimulation appropriate to her abilities. There's definitely a place for the TV and music but that should not be all that is happening. Overstimulation can come in many forms. You need to find a routine that works best for your mom.

The caregivers should be taking your direction. As they don't seem to be, my recommendation would be to write out a schedule/routine for your mom with clear instructions. Write it out for the day and include everything - breakfast, getting washed, exercise, activities, and in your case, when the tv can and cannot be on. Go over it with the caregivers to make sure they understand and then be sure it is adhered to. Keep in mind that no routine can be adhered to 100% as your mom will be able to do different things at different time and may feel more tired one day or the next, but it can be used as a starting point. If the caregivers are through an agency, give the agency a copy as well and discuss it with them. If, after all that, the caregivers don't comply - it's time to look for some new ones. 

I wish you the best of luck.

zauberflote

This is such a hot button topic for me, ugh. Mom's MC common room had a tv that was never off. It was not often set to things that residents might enjoy. Generally the folks who spent their time in there were doing the "the tv is my babysitter I must watch" thing. Very few were able to follow the plots. Even Hallmark channel offerings have (big huge closeup facial shots of) people in distress. I didn't feel that giants being distressed in one's home was exactly what I'd choose for anyone to watch. And when the caregivers watched what they wanted to.... I once saw a common-room show in which a man shoved a woman to the floor and made as if to kick her. This is not good resident dementia entertainment. 

Music likewise. The MC had a radio made up as the 2010 idea of what a burger joint jukebox ought to look like, and it constantly blared local top-10 stations according to the caregjver demographic, which skewed up to 70 years younger than the residents. I once turned the volume down so you had to be within 15 feet to hear it, and an admin person told me I couldn't do that, as the jukebox was music therapy. ......... Not in my book. Hiphop will be music therapy in about 2060! Only once did the part-time activities director manage to get a big band dvd playing. 

I would think that older, less frenetically-shot and cut, less choppy tv shows with less over-dramatic music would make for decent watching. Between you/sibs and caregivers, you ought to be able to come up with a plan that works best for your mom. Maybe in her own way she enjoys it. But I'd certainly want my mom to have the best shot at good sleep for as long as her brain remembered how to sleep.  With MIL, who strongly preferred to not have caregivers in her room during the day, the caregivers had the living room tv. This worked well because MIL was very very deaf. 

MBBny

Thank you all for your comments and advice.

lizz.olya

I also try not to let my friend with dementia watch TV very often. To be honest, I don't know if it's true or not, but it's not for nothing that children are not allowed to watch TV for a long time. So, when I read https://www.firesticktricks.com/amazon-firestick-customer-service.html , I connected it for a friend and for myself, but there is a parental control that helps to see how long he watches it. Then I can control that time and increase or decrease it accordingly

May flowers

I agree with all that’s been written here. I made sure our caregivers know that they could watch TV quietly when he was asleep but not when he was awake. He used to ignore the TV but it became a distraction and later became agitating to him because he would argue with it.

We found the overstimulation was a problem, especially more than one thing at once - like talking to him and having the music playing, or feeding him and talking on the phone, etc. he would get agitated.

I had a list of activities and box of things to do, mostly fidget toys, a notebook with things about his past to talk to him about, picture books, some caregivers brought their own things, one brought a daily devotional and read it to him. 

One brought some country music and had it playing loud, he was so agitated all day after.

For music, we took all his CDs and put them on a music player (there were about 1000 songs), so these were his favorite songs from the 40s and 50s, and hymns. It played on a loop, and it was one of the few things he related to in the last months. He was still singing a little with it in the months before he passed. But we still had to turn it off sometimes to give him a break and help him focus on eating and other things. 

Fesk’s post is so true - you have to write down how you want things to be, and refer them back to it if they don’t follow the plan. I told my caregivers some things were flexible but some things were non negotiable.