My dad recently turned 96 and has started confusing dreams for reality. Is this a sign of cognitive decline?

Mom lived to 97, with some cognitive decline last few years. She had home care with CNAs the last 4 years. It is normal when people realize their life is coming to an end or they are just tired of living that they think about loved ones who have passed, especially in dreasm. Mom would frequently ask, "When can I go home? When will I see my mother, father, or husband?" I realized that she was thinking about going home to Heaven and being reunited with family. I just responded "soon" to these questions. She would cry out in her sleep, "God, please help me" and frequently tell me and the CNAs that she prays every night for God to take her, but she still wakes up so maybe she's not good enough. My point is that this may not be hallucinations or the effects of medication or disease.

This happens / happened to my mom (thr supr-vivd dreams, as she told me about them when they started last year) and she has memory issues... but she has COPD which can lead to a super-duper amount of fuzziness afaik.

Amyb123: Perhaps he needs to visit his primary care physician.

Fyi: (copy and paste) https://www.parkinson.org/understanding-parkinsons/non-movement-symptoms/hallucinations-delusions

If the confusion on waking and the increase in the time he spends asleep are also very recent this wants reporting to his PCP.

My mom started having vivid dreams but she took Sinemet for her Parkinson’s disease. One of the side effects was vivid dreams. She developed dementia later in her life.

I think my mom started having some hallucinations too because she would tell me about her dream and then say that she saw the person who was in her dream in her room when she wasn’t dreaming.

It is possible that your father could be experiencing cognitive decline.

Wishing you peace as you continue on in your caregiving journey.

Yes, it could be a sign of cognitive decline. But your dad is also very old at 96, so some confusion upon waking seems par for the course to me. If he's confusing dreams for reality, I'd get him seen by his PCP for bloodwork and a urinalysis to rule out infection which often contribute to muddled thinking and even delirium.

I don't know what a "staring" for blood pressure is, but you might want to get his bp checked out too and make sure his meds don't need to be changed.

Good luck to you