Look at this website: https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/hapiguide/understanding-the-connection-between-sleep-and-dementia/
In Part, it says:
It has also long been accepted that there exists a connection between sleep and dementia. More recently, new studies have emerged providing deeper insight into the relationship between the two.
Here we’ll explore the connection between sleep and dementia, warning signs you may not be getting enough sleep and how to improve your sleep hygiene.
For years, over a third of Americans have been experiencing sleep deprivation, an issue that’s been exacerbated by stress, grief and anxiety surrounding the pandemic. The sleep crisis has become so prevalent that it has even earned its own term––coronasomnia.
Another growing health concern plaguing the U.S. is dementia, a term used to define the loss of cognitive functioning––caused by damage to the brain cells––in a way that interferes with a person’s everyday life. In the U.S., more than 6 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, and by 2050 this number is projected to rise to 13 million. While the exact underlying causes of dementia are unknown, experts pinpoint family history, age, head trauma, lifestyle and poor cardiovascular health as risk factors.
There is a lot more to this link. I am now studying re memory / dementia. We sleep to 'feed' our brain what it needs. Rest ... restoration ... cleaning out the stuff we don't need. However, adding dementia is another area of study I am not all that familiar with, yet. Although I am 'doing' these DVDs to keep my brain in tact for as long as I can.
Let him sleep. Our neurologist stated that my husband's brain is trying to heal itself while he is asleep. Enjoy the peace and quiet, and get something done without interruption! Sleep is safe!
From your profile, it probably isn't the dementia but any of the other problems that cause lack of energy. Those and maybe having a difficult time sleeping comfortably.
My Lewy Body mom sleeps while still talking, falls asleep while eating and sleeps most every night very well. She looks rested but started sleeping at a drop of a hat these past few weeks. No infection. Such a huge change. Also noted she is a lot more confused and wrong words in sentences.
Not all of them do. My late husband didn't do this until a month or two before he began hospice care. That was many years after his FTD diagnosis. He didn't even need a wheelchair until the last year of his life.
My husband will be 90 next month. Some days he is in bed a lot, not necessarily sleeping. That is where he is most comfortable. He is on low dose seroquel which causes sleepiness but without it he can get pretty wild and has bad panic attacks. With it he is pretty calm although he does sometimes exhibit the symptoms of dementia (repeating questions, random talk that doesn’t make sense, etc.). He knows his kids when they are here but has trouble placing them when they aren’t. He slept a lot before the seroquel but more now.
I think there brain is just tired and sleep is there happier place.
One of my kids, when he got hurt he would fall asleep, drove me nuts because I never new how hurt he was until he woke up. Sleep was his safe place I think
Truly, they no longer know day from night. It helps to make sure the blinds and drapes are open and all the ceiling or lamp lights are on from early morning when you get up until bedtime. If he is at home, this may help. Is he in assisted living or nursing facility? I have real problems with the assisted living 'care' givers doing this one small thing, The 'care' givers rather keep it dark and let patients sleep all day and night and nit have to deal with them or take care of them.
My mum will sleep, no matter how bright the room, or how noisy the TV or others talking. She just doesn't have the energy to stay awake, not the capacity to be aware of everything going on around her at all times. It's cruel to keep someone awake more than they can cope with.
My husband has Parkinson’s, no dementia. He was sleeping a lot, 12+ hours per day. Now he is restless, screaming and talking loudly in his sleep for hour or more and even sleeping in different bedroom wakes me up. Now he gets up at 5-6am. He went from 12 hours to maybe 6-7 of sleep. And he remains restless during a day and is in more pain.
I am sorry to hear it. Some people with PD do develop sleep disturbances. I guess the sleep rhythms get disrupted. My DH's Aunt had PD & as it progressed she suffered more nightmares. This was very distressing for her.
The last 6 to 9 months my husband was alive he was sleeping 20 to 23 hours a day. The body is expending energy keeping the heart pumping, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and on and on. So sleep is an easy way to conserve energy. It takes muscles to keep the eyes open so it is possible that your husband is actually awake but the eyes are closed. Do you have Hospice helping you? You might want to contact a Hospice in your area and ask if he would qualify. You would get a Nurse that would come each week to check on him and order medications. A CNA would come at least 2 times a week to give him a bath or shower and order supplies. All supplies and equipment would be delivered to you. I would not have been able to care for my Husband the way I was able to if it had not been for the Hospice Team I had.
My mother is like that also, except that she has mobility problems as well as dementia. She won't engage in any of the activities offered at the AL home where she lives. I think it's partly due to her hearing loss and her dementia. She's 95 and has deteriorated a lot physically. She is always happy when I visit but just seems to want to stay in her room except for meals. I know she's bored but I've given up trying to get her interested in anything. At her age she's entitled to spend her day as she wishes.
Elders in general sleep more and eat less. If we are to think at all that our bodies know what they are doing with what reserves of energy and health they have, then we accept that the needs of the body become more sleep and less food. Our organs ALL age. Our bone marrow cannot replenish itself; our brain cells change. Our hearts become a tiring pump. When you think about it, the machine just begins to wind down.
So it isn't always dementia that's the cause, and in fact with some dementias there is less sleep, terrible sleep disorders, fragmented and violent outbursts of energy.
This is just the clock running down. As my dad in his 90s said "Kid, I just long for that last long, long nap".
My aunt sleeps mostly during the day and at night time, she's up and napping here and there. She's been this way since I last saw her almost a year ago. We all thought this was likely her coming to an end, but she's still here. It's hard because when trying to call her, she doesn't answer because she's asleep all of the time and doesn't answer. This disease is horrible to witness and you just feel helpless with no answers watching your loved one slowly deteriorating.
Yes, I sympathize with you. My mom is 95 and has really deteriorated lately. It's very depressing to see her like this. It sure doesn't make me look forward to my old age!
His sleeping that much is probably a sign of end of life coming within the next 6 months or so. I hope at this point you have brought hospice on board as they can better answer any questions you may have. My late husband slept anywhere from 16-20 hours the last 6 months of his life, and was under hospice care the last 22 months of his life. Most people wait too late to bring hospice on board, so I would recommend calling them today(yes you can call them yourself)and have them come out to do an evaluation.
You can bring hospice earlier, but don't do it unless the person wants to forego curative treatments (as s/he might have specified in an advanced directive). If s/he did not do so, s/he probably wants to live as long as possible. There's nothing wrong with that, even for someone with a form of dementia.
"It is quite common for a person with dementia, especially in the later stages, to spend a lot of their time sleeping – both during the day and night. This can sometimes be distressing for the person’s family and friends, as they may worry that something is wrong. Sleeping more and more is a common feature of later-stage dementia. As the disease progresses, the damage to a person’s brain becomes more extensive and they gradually become weaker and frailer over time. As a result, a person with dementia may find it quite exhausting to do relatively simple tasks like communicating, eating or trying to understand what is going on around them. This can make the person sleep more during the day as their symptoms become more severe."
My 100-yr old Aunt with adv dementia slept 11 hrs a day. Every day she was walked around her house with a support belt by her family caregiver. Then she peddled on a portable food peddler for 20 minutes. She played games, was walked to the mailbox in the afternoon, folded towels as an "activity". Other than her dementia and some rheumatoid arthritis, she was very healthy. So, everyone is different.
Your profile says, "I am caring for someone with alzheimer's / dementia, cancer, depression, diabetes, hearing loss, heart disease, incontinence, and stroke."
If you're in your 70s then he's probably at least in his 90s.
He's got a lot going on. I'd sleep too if it were me. Just depression alone lands many a person in bed. Is he on any meds for that?
https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/hapiguide/understanding-the-connection-between-sleep-and-dementia/
In Part, it says:
It has also long been accepted that there exists a connection between sleep and dementia. More recently, new studies have emerged providing deeper insight into the relationship between the two.
Here we’ll explore the connection between sleep and dementia, warning signs you may not be getting enough sleep and how to improve your sleep hygiene.
For years, over a third of Americans have been experiencing sleep deprivation, an issue that’s been exacerbated by stress, grief and anxiety surrounding the pandemic. The sleep crisis has become so prevalent that it has even earned its own term––coronasomnia.
Another growing health concern plaguing the U.S. is dementia, a term used to define the loss of cognitive functioning––caused by damage to the brain cells––in a way that interferes with a person’s everyday life. In the U.S., more than 6 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, and by 2050 this number is projected to rise to 13 million. While the exact underlying causes of dementia are unknown, experts pinpoint family history, age, head trauma, lifestyle and poor cardiovascular health as risk factors.
There is a lot more to this link. I am now studying re memory / dementia. We sleep to 'feed' our brain what it needs. Rest ... restoration ... cleaning out the stuff we don't need. However, adding dementia is another area of study I am not all that familiar with, yet. Although I am 'doing' these DVDs to keep my brain in tact for as long as I can.
Gena / Touch Matters
One of my kids, when he got hurt he would fall asleep, drove me nuts because I never new how hurt he was until he woke up. Sleep was his safe place I think
It's cruel to keep someone awake more than they can cope with.
He was sleeping a lot, 12+ hours per day.
Now he is restless, screaming and talking loudly in his sleep for hour or more and even sleeping in different bedroom wakes me up. Now he gets up at 5-6am. He went from 12 hours to maybe 6-7 of sleep. And he remains restless during a day and is in more pain.
I hope there is medication to help.
The body is expending energy keeping the heart pumping, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and on and on. So sleep is an easy way to conserve energy.
It takes muscles to keep the eyes open so it is possible that your husband is actually awake but the eyes are closed.
Do you have Hospice helping you?
You might want to contact a Hospice in your area and ask if he would qualify.
You would get a Nurse that would come each week to check on him and order medications.
A CNA would come at least 2 times a week to give him a bath or shower and order supplies.
All supplies and equipment would be delivered to you.
I would not have been able to care for my Husband the way I was able to if it had not been for the Hospice Team I had.
She comes out of her room for meals. Refuses any activities. NO amount of coaxing will result in engagement.
Her body is just fine. Her brain is broken. She feels safest in bed. With her, that’s all there is to it. I think she spends 22 hours/day in bed. 😔
If we are to think at all that our bodies know what they are doing with what reserves of energy and health they have, then we accept that the needs of the body become more sleep and less food.
Our organs ALL age. Our bone marrow cannot replenish itself; our brain cells change. Our hearts become a tiring pump.
When you think about it, the machine just begins to wind down.
So it isn't always dementia that's the cause, and in fact with some dementias there is less sleep, terrible sleep disorders, fragmented and violent outbursts of energy.
This is just the clock running down. As my dad in his 90s said "Kid, I just long for that last long, long nap".
She's been this way since I last saw her almost a year ago.
We all thought this was likely her coming to an end, but she's still here.
It's hard because when trying to call her, she doesn't answer because she's asleep all of the time and doesn't answer.
This disease is horrible to witness and you just feel helpless with no answers watching your loved one slowly deteriorating.
My late husband slept anywhere from 16-20 hours the last 6 months of his life, and was under hospice care the last 22 months of his life.
Most people wait too late to bring hospice on board, so I would recommend calling them today(yes you can call them yourself)and have them come out to do an evaluation.
And it's ok if they sleep, if there bodies feel the need for sleep, I'd let him sleep.
Best of luck in this horrible hard time
"It is quite common for a person with dementia, especially in the later stages, to spend a lot of their time sleeping – both during the day and night. This can sometimes be distressing for the person’s family and friends, as they may worry that something is wrong.
Sleeping more and more is a common feature of later-stage dementia. As the disease progresses, the damage to a person’s brain becomes more extensive and they gradually become weaker and frailer over time.
As a result, a person with dementia may find it quite exhausting to do relatively simple tasks like communicating, eating or trying to understand what is going on around them. This can make the person sleep more during the day as their symptoms become more severe."
Your profile says, "I am caring for someone with alzheimer's / dementia, cancer, depression, diabetes, hearing loss, heart disease, incontinence, and stroke."
If you're in your 70s then he's probably at least in his 90s.
He's got a lot going on. I'd sleep too if it were me. Just depression alone lands many a person in bed. Is he on any meds for that?