Sleeping lots

Saya_G

My mother has been sleeping late into the day - sometimes 3-4p. My sister, her full time companion, says there are many days that she has to work to get her up even then.

I ask my mom if she’s tired, she says no, just bored. I

She and my sister love bingo and casinos - with COVID, at least for several months, there was no gathers, slowly bingo and the casinos have opened up, so they’ve had the chance to go again. 

They are also big tv watchers - I guess my point is that they were never social butterflies before, so I’m not sure boredom is the real issue.from my perspective nothing much has changed as far as activities, so why bored?

I struggle to know which stage my mother is at in her dementia - her short term memory is bad. For example, Mom ate dinner with us last night, after having three helpings - all the while saying it was the best meal she had ever eaten in her life (it was good, homemade Moroccan by my Moroccan daughter in law). However, as we sat and talked about old times after we finished eating, my mom looked over at the left overs and said that looks good, I would have liked to have had that for dinner! 

Which is another issue, she eats constantly- her clothes are getting tight, she forgets that she ate and wants to eat again! I’ve read where some folks with dementia slow on eating, saying they are not hungry, do some eat more?

Should we let her sleep, that is what I think, since there are no other apparent issues - but it drives my sister crazy! She calls and complains often. 

Any input?

RobOT

Sleeping a lot is common with advancing dementia, as is broken sleep patterns and erratic sleep patterns.  My father gets up anywhere from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon, then goes to bed anywhere from seven to midnight.  He might sleep five hours, might sleep eighteen hours.  Some people with dementia don't sleep more than two or three hours at a time and are up several hours in between.  I've found if I get him up before he wants to he's surly and sleeps in his chair and gets a sore neck. So I check on him and let him sleep.