Overnight Home Care
Disability and sickness can often make a person require additional care besides what they receive during the day. In a lot of the situations, you or your loved one will require care only during the day and that care is usually enough to help you maintain your independence. There are times when having someone care for you through the night is just as important as receiving daytime care. When this is the case for a loved one, most people often worry about the safety of their loved one throughout the night. If you find yourself needing this type of care, or a loved one is in need of this type of care, that’s okay. There are benefits to it and we’ll explore those benefits and several others in this article. But we first have to find out what overnight care is.

So, what is overnight care?
Overnight care is a situation where a person needs to be attended to and cared for through the night in order to carry out his or her activities of daily living. Care needs do not end at the end of the working day or when the daytime caregiver leaves. Care needs continue at night as well, and fortunately for anyone in need of this kind of service, care giving does not also stop at the end of the working day. This simply means that you or your loved one can have access to trained staff through the night. This is especially important if you or your loved one has a complex medical condition or is recuperating from an illness. In this care arrangement, a caregiver stays in your home overnight specifically to attend to you and help you carry out whatever tasks you may need carried out during the night.

What are some benefits of overnight care?
There are many benefits to having overnight care. First of all, knowing that there is someone watching over and attending to your loved one through the night can be a great relief. It can really be a big concern for most families when a loved one with a sickness has to pass the night by himself/herself. What if a situation arises during the night and no one is there to respond or act quickly? What if it’s serious or even leads to an emergency? The list of thoughts and worries continue but with overnight care you do not have to worry yourself out like this since there’ll be someone with your loved one to ensure they are okay. So, besides having your loved one cared for through the night, overnight care eliminates the anxiety and worries you may be feeling because of your loved one.
This is important for you. Anxiety and worrying like this can easily deprive you of much needed sleep and that is bad for anyone. Sleep deprivation can easily result in decreased productivity and fatigue during the day. And this is not just for those worrying about their loved ones. If a patient has anxiety problems or feels lonely, leaving him or her alone through the night is a bad idea. It is worse if for any reason the person also has any type of phobia associated with night times or lives in a not too secure environment. These could make the patient not to sleep at all and during the day the patient will have problems participating in his or her daily activities. For patients who need to participate in a social activity or have some form of engagement during the day, this becomes another problem.
They may have to nap during the day since they found it difficult sleeping at night. Good sleep is vital to overall health and well being of body and mind. It also helps both body and mind recharge and function properly during the day and overnight care facilitates this process, and therefore, provides an enormous physical and mental boost. All of these, with someone being there for your loved one at night, can be the difference between them staying home or entering a residential facility which may not be the best option for your loved one that you live separately from. Family members who needs to be cared for does not mean that they have to live in a residential facility. If he/she wants to be in the community he/she has lived in, then that is the best place for them to be, unless his/her physician says otherwise.

Why would I or a loved one need overnight care?
Besides the benefits already discussed above, overnight care also helps in different other ways including: getting assistance with toilet breaks, support with medication administration throughout the night, better overall health as you or your loved one is able to rest through the night, help with complex care needs, regular help in changing sleeping positions, especially if you or your loved one just had an operation or a serious injury, someone on hand for those living with progressive conditions such as dementia, and as already stated, extra peace of mind for you or your family members as they know that there is a trained/professional caregiver with you through the night.

Who needs overnight care?
Older adults generally need overnight care, and for several reasons, but it is not limited to them. Anyone who has just had a surgery or injury and who needs help taking his medication, changing sleeping positions, or even moving about will need overnight care. Older adults who need help going to the toilet at night needs overnight care. People with medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s or dementia, who may “wander” during the early hours need round the clock supervision. Anyone with complex conditions who will also need help with needs/tasks like medication reminders and management also need overnight care. In all these cases, private duty home care through the night is essential.
What are the Types of overnight care available?
There are a few options when considering overnight care. It is quite flexible and can be built or organized around your specific needs. The different options include: sleeping night care, waking night care, visiting night care and respite night care. Sleeping night care is a situation where you just need someone around but do not require assistance. Usually a sleeping night caregiver is required to care for the patient a minimum of two times during the day before he can serve as a sleeping night caregiver. Waking night care is a situation in which a caregiver stays awake and actually attends to a patient through the night. This is usually the case when the patient frequently needs help and care through the night. Visiting night care is a situation where the patient is fairly independent and can handle things himself at night but may just need a caregiver/team of caregivers to drive in and check up on him at night. Lastly, overnight respite care is a situation where a caregiver comes in at night to relieve a primary caregiver so she can have some rest and better help during the day.
Care is important and care needs are not restricted to the day or working hours. There may be times when you or your loved one requires overnight care. It is important to get it. It may take the form of sleeping night care, waking night care, visiting night care, or respite night care. Whatever form you require, there are benefits and you should take advantage of them as needed.

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