Is it normal for 92-year-old with dementia to sleep a lot?

Being hard of hearing is extremely isolating, and it can also lead to dementia according to some studies. Sometimes it's just easier to sleep than to go through the exhausting days of struggle to hear and to understand what's going on in a broken brain.

My mother slept for about 16-18 hours a day when it was just her and my dad home together. Dad was always busy trying to keep everything going in the household and didn't have the energy to engage Mom in activities or extensive conversation except at mealtimes. After he died and I moved her to a memory care facility, she didn't take naps again until the last weeks of her life because there were things to do and to look at, and the caregivers got her up and dressed each morning.

If you leave your mother to her own devices, then yes, she’s going to sleep a lot. And of course, she’s 92 and it’s normal to sleep more at that age than at a younger age.

When old people sleep a lot, it's usually an indication that their bodies are shutting down. It usually precedes death in many cases.

pollie, your Mom would sleep less if she has things to do. From your profile it sounds like your Mom lives on her own, correct? She really needs to be around people of her own generation.

I know my Dad, who was in his 90's, really perked up once he moved from his house into a senior living facility. The equity from his house helped pay for his rent at the facility.

It is normal for an elder in the 90s to sleep a lot whether there is dementia or not. My perfectly mentally capable Dad told me it was so hard for him to get up, and that he did it for my Mom. He really only wanted to rest. He was very very tired all the time. If you have concerns you may want to discuss this as POA (which I hope you are) with the woman's MD.

I think so. The brain is working really hard when awake and probably even when they are asleep, it’s exhausting when your brain has to work so hard and simple things like remembering how to walk to the bathroom along with the function of doing it can both be very taxing. The other contributor is often that they don’t eat as much or get enough exercise to get the nourished blood flowing to the brain to help it work. I suspect this has a lot to do with sundowning actually, their brains are exhausted after trying to work all day and simply can’t keep up or deal with the here and now. Keeping them hydrated can help but is also often difficult.