What's the difference between sundowners, dementia and Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia. There are many different types of dementia. Sundowners or sundowning is a term used to describe the worsening of dementia symptoms that happens to some with dementia towards the evening, aka when the sun goes down. Definitely not all people will develop dementia. Depending on the particular type, there are risk factors that can be managed in order to lessen the chance of developing a dementia. High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, alcoholism, etc. can all increase your chances of developing dementia.

Yep, there really is a difference. The longer we live the greater the chance of having dementia, but certainly not everyone develops it.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. But there are about 50 different kinds. Some of the most well-known are Lewy Body Dementia, Vascular Dementia, and Frontotemporal Dementia. People with any of these diseases have dementia. Not all people who have dementia have Alzheimer's. Dementia is a broad category of disease, and Alzheimer's is the name of one specific kind of dementia.

Sundowning is a part of some cases of dementia. Not everyone with dementia experiences this. I've read that about 20% of persons with Alzheimer's experience sundowning. I haven't seen statistics for other kinds of dementia.

Sundowning is widely recognized and has been studied. No one yet seems to know the exact causes, but there is much useful information about this syndrome and how to help people who experience it. Just search for Sundowning on Google or any web search engine.