My 94-year Mom recently moved into a retirement home. She has settled in well. She enjoys getting meals delivered to her apartment, but has little to no interest in socializing (going downstairs for meals or engaging in activities). Her appetite is good. Sometimes, we can interest her in a tv show, although her attention-span is minimal. Her hearing is poor (she has refused hearing aids). We have a PSW walk her x2 daily, although Mom is only willing to walk down the hallway x1 each time.
My concern is that she sleeps—a lot. She gets tired in the early afternoon, and takes a nap. The PSW gets her up for dinner, and Mom wants to go to bed right after dinner. She even nods off during visits, and just wants to go to sleep. She’s already in bed by 6:30 p.m.
It seems as though she’s retreating/going inward.
I’m wondering if anyone else has encountered this with their parents who are over 90 years old.
It's difficult for us to imagine when young, but I at 82, assure you, we get more and more and more tired, and we long more and more to sink under that feather tic.
If you research "elders and sleep patterns" you can learn a lot. Especially if there are any dementia issues at all, one is VERY LUCKY when sleep is the longing, and not agitation.
As one nears the end of ones life they also tend to sleep a lot.
So whether your moms life is nearing its end or if she's just tired, I say to just let her sleep as she's earned the right at 94 to do as she pleases.
This new routine doesn't alarm me at all, since she's not on any new meds and has been slowing down on all fronts of late. As we age it takes a lot more energy to do a lot less of what we used to do. And, it takes us longer as well.
My 105-yr old Aunt was (up until recently) still getting up at 6 or 6:30am -- and she's been retired since 1977! She would have 1 afternoon nap for about 1 or 1.5 hrs, then function alertly the rest of the night, and went to sleep at about 11pm. This is my Mom's sister. It's all so individual.
He's old and has earned the right to sleep whenever he wants.
His vitals are better than mine. Despite being incontinent blind and immobile and having mild dementia, he is healthy.
I am not concerned.