Behavioral and Physiological Observations During the Day: How Patients with Advanced Dementia Spend Time in a Care Facility

Abstract

To clarify how patients with advanced dementia in a care facility spend time during the day through sequential observation of activities. Methods: Activities of 12 patients with dementia were observed using an original form for monitoring their behavior and applying electroencephalograms (EEGs) with electrooculograms (EOGs) to identify awake and sleep states. Results: The amount of time in an awake state was significantly longer than in the other states, although the awake/sleep rhythm fluctuated in all participants. The subjects were mainly occupied with “unpurposed period”, in which they were inactive, although fully awake. Conclusion: Through reporting daily activities and awake/sleep states during the daytime in patients with dementia in a care facility, serial monitoring of behavior and the recording of biological activity revealed precise knowledge of the actual daily situation of patients with advanced dementia.