Choose activities wisely

So often I visit a caregiver whose family member is sitting in front of the television kind of zoned out. TV is probably the poorest activity for someone with Alzheimer's. Why? TV is not interactive, is ever changing from programming to advertisements of several different products in the span of a few minutes, and the program is often a subject matter unsuitable for a person already having difficulty staying in touch with what is going on around him.
People with Alzheimer's have slowed processing of information meaning it takes longer for them to absorb information and decide what to do with it. Switching subjects is very hard and holding on to information is difficult at first, then very hard to not able to at all.
I remember a caregiver who was very tired as his wife with Alzheimer's was up much of every night insisting that bad people were trying to get into the house. She would be very frightened, asking her husband to 'check the doors and windows'. Upon questioning, I learned it was their lifelong habit of watching the 10 o'clock news before going to bed. I suggested that perhaps she couldn't let go of the news and translated it into happening right there in her house. He substituted a calming video of lovely dressed ice skaters at 10 o'clock instead and they watched the news at 6 instead. Her delusions disappeared and he got much needed sleep.
Sometimes a person with Alzheimer's cannot differentiate reality from what is on TV and will become frightened. As a caregiver it is important to take note of what upsets and causes fear and then get rid of the fear provoking activity.
Activity of well known tasks like helping dust, set a table, help do laundry, create a photo collage and other enjoyable activites, perhaps accompanied by soft music will induce good feelings instead of fearful ones.
Another time I coached a caregiver whose husband wasn't responding to her request to come to dinner. She would tell him dinner was ready and he would look at her perplexed, not knowing what to do. I discovered their passion in recent years was dancing. To get him to the table where the visual cue of food on a plate told him it was time to eat, she turned on dance music, asked him for this dance, and danced him to the table! Ingenious!