Follow
Share
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Dementia can really mess up our body's natural rhythms, including out internal clocks. My husband needed something to reduce anxiety so he could sleep at night, and also something to combat excessive daytime sleepiness.

Talk to MIL's doctor about her sleep issues. If the overall amount of sleep she is getting is not way out of line, then the exact hours she is getting it may not be a huge concern. If she is sleeping 19 hours a day, that is something to share with the doctor.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

@jeannegibbs: a little jealous, I must admit. Lol.

I think I'd only be worried about it if it's a new behavior, which could be a signal of depression. It could also be the result of sundowning, maybe? Like, if you're up late at night, it seems natural to end up sleeping late during the day. Our bodies do require a certain amount of sleep.  (Edit:  or if that person is recently retired, they could just be doing what they've always wanted to do but couldn't.)
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

Dorianne, you would sleep till 1 or 2 in the afternoon if you could! I can and I do! After 10 years of keeping the hours I had to for caregiving (and lots of sleep deprivation) I am finally following what my body wants to do. That is generally staying up all night, and sleeping from 7 am to 2:30 pm or so. This isn't always convenient, of course, but I make all my appointments for late afternoon and make this work as well as I can.

There is nothing particularly magic or preferable to being a morning person!
Helpful Answer (3)
Report

Gemtwin1966, in what way is this a problem? Left on her own, how late would she stay in bed?

Is it a matter of convenience, for example needing her to get dressed for a day program, or dressing her before you leave for work and an aide comes?

Are you worried that she is depressed? That she is staying in bed to avoid facing the day? Or that she has some kind of acute illness or infection?

When it became clear that my husband (with dementia) simply liked to sleep in, and the problem with that was convenience, I did what I could to make starting later more convenient. I moved his start time at his adult day program and hour later, and had his PCP start later in the morning, too. (It was great for her, since she could see her daughter off to school before she left home.)

If you can rule out illness or depression, I'd say let her sleep late.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

I am a late riser. Never ever in my life have I been a morning person.  I should come with a warning sign in the morning, actually.  I would sleep till 1 or 2 in the afternoon if I could! No matter how tired I am, my brain and body "wake up" at precisely 10 PM, and I feel compelled to do something creative, or learn something new, or clean some mess I've been ignoring. I've painted my walls at 3 AM.  I fake it through daily life, but when I retire....man, I am gonna sleep all day and stay up all night. Like a cat.

My mom used to be the opposite until illness started taking over. She has end stage renal disease and some dementia, and has suffered from depression all her life. She didn't identify it as depression until she was nearly 60. Staying in bed for long periods of time can be a sign of depression. If this is a new behavior for your mom, she may be aware of the dementia or other feelings of general decline, and she could definitely be depressed about it. It's hard to get up in the morning if you feel you have nothing to look forward to.  I don't know if it's worth looking into an anti-depressant, but you could talk to her doctor about it.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

My mom was always a late riser. Once she went to Independent Living, we told her it was fine to sleep in and have instant oatmeal in her room.

When she went into a nursing home, we ascertained before we moved her that she would be able stay up late and watch TV with headphones, sleep in and have breakfast in bed. The NH used to get her up and dressed around 10.30 am.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter