The three most common causes of overstimulation in people with dementia are overwhelming environments (noise, crowds, clutter), cognitive overload (too many questions, complex tasks, confusion), and physical/emotional discomfort (pain, hunger, fear, or unmet needs), all of which the brain struggles to process, leading to agitation or distress.
For those with dementia, overstimulation can be incredibly challenging as they may find it hard to process all the stimuli. Memory care services are designed to minimize the risk of overstimulation, allowing individuals with dementia to live in a safe and comfortable environment.
Progressive dementias
Sometimes, the behaviour may be related to changes taking place in the brain. In other circumstances, there may be changes occurring in the person's environment, their health, or medication that trigger the behaviour.
However, dementia aggression can still occur without any warning or triggers. Three of the most common types of behavioral triggers in dementia patients are confusion, pain or discomfort, and a changing or overwhelming environment.
But Romano says it's a leap to say that skipping breakfast actually causes dementia. “Alzheimer's disease is a complex brain illness,” he says. “Although the study found these correlations between skipping breakfast and dementia, skipping breakfast might be an indicator of other health habits or life circumstances.”
Common examples include feelings of rejection, betrayal, unfair treatment, and a lack of control. Identifying such triggers is a key component of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
Behavioral disturbances in dementia are often globally described as “agitation” including verbal and physical aggression, wandering, and hoarding.
The three types of behavioral triggers are internal, emotional, and environmental. Internal triggers come from within, emotional triggers are based on feelings, and environmental triggers are influenced by the surroundings. Recognizing these can help understand behaviors better.
Common changes in behaviour
Three D's - Delirium, Depression, Dementia | Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region.
You Miss Out on Sleep
You do a few things you know you shouldn't -- we all do. But some of those bad habits can take a toll on your brain. For example, lack of sleep may be a cause of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. It's best to have regular sleeping hours.
Common types of dementia
Overstimulation means that your brain struggles to handle too much sensory or mental input at once, leaving you feeling overwhelmed. This could be caused by loud noises, bright lights, overlapping senses, strong emotions, or mental stress.
Individuals with dementia may exhibit fixation, which is a behavior that involves obsessively focusing on an object, topic, or activity for a prolonged period.
Actually, there are only three: truth, relationship and identity triggers. (1) Truth Triggers are set off by the substance of the feedback itself –– it's somehow off, unhelpful or simply untrue. In response, we feel indignant, wronged and exasperated.
But when someone is triggered, they feel not only distressed but all the physical reactions — sweating, teeth or fists clenching, heart palpitations — as if they were in serious danger or their life were at risk. They often feel the impulse to immediately escape the situation and then maybe avoid it in the future.
Five Triggers of Relapse and How to Avoid Them
Dementia can manifest in unexpected and often unsettling ways. From hoarding and wandering to aggression and hallucinations, these behaviors can be distressing for both the individual and their caregivers. Understanding the underlying causes of these behaviors is crucial for providing compassionate and effective care.
The "2-finger test" for dementia involves an examiner showing a hand gesture (like interlocking index and middle fingers) and asking the patient to copy it, testing motor skills, visual memory, and coordination, as difficulties can signal early cognitive decline, but it's a screening tool, not a definitive diagnosis, prompting further medical evaluation. Other related tests include finger-tapping and finger-to-nose, looking for hesitation or misjudgment in movement.
A recent meta-analysis revealed that higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness are consistent predictors of higher dementia risk, across dementia types, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia assessment methods, follow-up lengths, and countries (Aschwanden et al., 2021).
Types of Triggers and responses to them
Behaviour is affected by factors relating to the person, including: physical factors - age, health, illness, pain, influence of a substance or medication. personal and emotional factors - personality, beliefs, expectations, emotions, mental health. life experiences - family, culture, friends, life events.
Examples of behaviour parents may find challenging include: