Your loved one with dementia may become disorientated and confused about time and place. This is called time-shifting. Time-shifting is when a person feels like they are living at an earlier time in their life. A person who is time-shifted may appear to be experiencing a different reality.

 

What causes time-shifting?

The brain uses sensory information and memories to understand what is currently happening. People with dementia often have damage to their short-term memory and may rely more on older memories to make sense of things.

 

How to Help Your Loved One Manage Time-Shifting

 

Your loved one with dementia may become disorientated and confused about time and place. This is called time-shifting. Time-shifting is when a person feels like they are living at an earlier time in their life. A person who is time-shifted may appear to be experiencing a different reality.

 

What causes time-shifting?

The brain uses sensory information and memories to understand what is currently happening. People with dementia often have damage to their short-term memory and may rely more on older memories to make sense of things.

 

When experiencing time-shifting, your loved one may:

·         Ask if they can collect the children from school.

·         Ask when they can speak to their mother.

·         Recall memories from much earlier in life.

·         Fail to recognize children, friends, or themselves.

·         Believe their family members are much younger.

·         Think that people who have passed are still alive.

·         Become confused about how to use certain objects.

 

To help prevent or reduce time-shifting, you can:

·         Remove or replace mirrors and shiny surfaces.

·         Announce your name when entering the room.

·         Reduce the number of unfamiliar items or technology.

·         Avoid contradicting or correcting their experience.

·         Learn more about their life history.

·         Offer simple solutions to challenges.

·         Validate their memories and feelings.

 

Remember that what your loved one perceives is as real to them as your reality is to you. By following these tips, you can help them navigate time-shifting with more ease.

 

 

 

Medicare Annual Enrollment is just around the corner. Now is the time to schedule your complimentary review of your current health insurance coverage with our Erickson Advantage® team.

 

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Regardless of whether you’re considering Erickson Advantage, keeping your current coverage, or switching to another insurance plan, your health insurance resource manager, a licensed sales agent, is here for you.

 

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With Medicare Annual Enrollment coming soon, it’s important to do your research now so you can be ready when the annual enrollment period officially begins this fall.

 

Get Ahead of Medicare Annual Enrollment! Schedule a health insurance coverage review today. Call 443-297-3110, TTY: 711, Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time or email <jennifer.simon@erickson.com>.

Plans are insured through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or one of its affiliated companies, a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in the plan depends on the plan’s contract renewal with Medicare.

 

 

 

Be sure to add these cultural observances to your calendar this September!

 

Labor Day – September 1

 

World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10

 

National Hispanic Heritage Month – September 15–October 15