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My wife turns on the bedroom light around 3 am and asks if our friends or grandkids are still here. I always tell her "No, they have gone." She is in the Middle Stage of dementia. Sometimes, if she won't turn off the light, I have threatened to sleep in the guest bedroom, but she says she doesn't want me to do that. What should I do the next time?

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Maybe a sleep mask for you. My Auntie has sundowners and she needs to sleep with the light on. She is afraid of the dark.
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Reply to Strongcoffee
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I agree this doesn’t seem like it’s related to Sundowning, but is a common dementia behavior.

Try to help her burn energy during the day: folding towels, walking around the house, reading aloud, sorting things, playing cars or board games etc. Once we had my Aunt with advanced dementia do this she began sleeping through the night without any sleep aids. Its not a perfect solution but may help her.
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Reply to Geaton777
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I don't this is sundowning. 3am seems to be the time people with Dementia wake up. Mom did it every night. I would go down, show her it was still dark out and put her back to bed she then slept till 8am. Maybe a nightlight near her side of the bed? Take the bulb out of her lamp?

Sundown usually happens in late afternoon, early evening, when the sun is going down. If your not sure if a person is suffering from Dementia this is the time you know they are. It could happen because this is when the brain becomes tired because some are aware there is something wrong and can "showtime". I go down with the Sun so something in the brain? Some sundown earlier some later. Eventually, though, that will stop as the Dementia worsen.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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