An investigation of the sundowning syndrome and ambient light

Abstract

Geriatric clinicians have observed that some demented individuals show increased agitation, restlessness and confusion in late afternoon, evening or night. This has popularly been named “sundowning,” or the “sundowning syndrome.” References to “sundowning' “in clinical writings disagree on virtually every aspect of the syndrome, and little research has been conducted to investigate this phenomenon. Despite this, light or light levels have been the most consistently noted cause.