Can Sundowning happen in the morning

Whatdowedonext

My husband is in late stage dementia and the regressive changes are happening quickly. Sundowning at around 5 pm is a familiar pattern, and we have come up with some steps that reduce the effects.
A new problem — In the morning, we're seeing something like sundowning. He might withdraw, he might get angry, it's a new thing and I don't see the patterns yet. Can sundowning happen at other times of day ? A circadian-based pattern of behavior related to awakening?

Arrowhead

It happened with my wife, but only for a few months.

SusanB-dil

Yes, MIL has sundowning happen at other times of the day.

JPJardinel

What you are already doing to manage the 5pm sundowning pattern shows how carefully you have been paying attention, and that same attentiveness is exactly what is going to help you figure out this new morning pattern too even though it feels confusing right now. To answer your question directly, yes, sundowning can happen at other times of day and what you are describing in the mornings has a name, it is sometimes called morning confusion or sleep inertia in dementia, and it is related to the same circadian rhythm disruption that drives late afternoon sundowning.

In late stage dementia the brain's internal clock becomes increasingly dysregulated, which means the periods of confusion, withdrawal, and agitation that were once predictably tied to late afternoon can start showing up at other transition points in the day, particularly around waking when the brain is shifting between sleep and wakefulness. The fact that you are not seeing a clear pattern yet is actually normal at this stage since it often takes a few weeks of observation to identify what triggers the morning episodes, whether it is light levels, noise, hunger, or the simple act of transitioning out of sleep.

Keeping a brief log of what the morning looks like each day, including what time it starts, what preceded it, and what helped or didn't, can be one of the most useful things you do right now while the pattern is still forming.

I hope these references can be useful as you start to find the patterns:

https://hopebridge.care/sundowning-morning-hours-dementia-what-is-actually-happening/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-boost/202503/how-seasonal-changes-impact-dementia-sundowning-symptoms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundowning