Sleeping more and more is a common feature of later-stage dementia. As the disease progresses, the damage to a person's brain becomes more extensive and they gradually become weaker and frailer over time.
People with dementia, especially those in the later stages, can often spend a lot of time sleeping. This can sometimes be worrying for caregivers, friends and family.
However, research shows that dementia patients may sleep for anywhere from 13 to 15 hours in a 24-hour timeframe. Although nearly half of older adults have experienced difficulty sleeping, sleep disorders affect up to 80% of dementia patients.
Results from a population-based study of almost 2000 older adults, all of whom were free of dementia at baseline, showed that risk for dementia was 69% higher in those who slept more than 8 hours daily vs 7 to 8 hours daily; and it was twice as high for those who went to bed before 9 PM vs at 10 PM or later.
However, end-stage dementia may last from one to three years. As the disease advances, your loved one's abilities become severely limited and their needs increase. Typically, they: have trouble eating and swallowing.
In the final stage of the disease, dementia symptoms are severe. Individuals lose the ability to respond to their environment, to carry on a conversation and, eventually, to control movement. They may still say words or phrases, but communicating pain becomes difficult.
Sleeping more and more is a common feature of later-stage dementia. As the disease progresses, the damage to a person's brain becomes more extensive and they gradually become weaker and frailer over time.
Symptoms generally progress steadily. However, a person may experience a sudden worsening of dementia symptoms. This can be part of the disease progressing or a sign of a serious medical problem. A sudden change in thinking or behavior can be the result of delirium, stroke, or other health conditions.
People living with Alzheimer's and other dementia may have problems sleeping or experience increased confusion, anxiety, agitation, pacing and disorientation beginning at dusk and continuing throughout the night (referred to as sundowning).
increasing confusion or poor judgment. greater memory loss, including a loss of events in the more distant past. needing assistance with tasks, such as getting dressed, bathing, and grooming. significant personality and behavior changes, often caused by agitation and unfounded suspicion.
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, frontotemporal disorders, and Lewy body and vascular dementia all cause a gradual loss of thinking abilities. They damage brain and nerve cells and can lead to pneumonia, stroke, falls, infections, and malnutrition that are often fatal.
Stage 6: Severe cognitive decline
Also known as middle dementia or moderately severe Alzheimer's disease, stage 6 will find your loved one requiring help for Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), such as bathing, toileting, or eating. This stage may include: Trouble sleeping. Repetitive or obsessive behavior.
People with dementia think about the same things that any human thinks about — emotions, relationships, daily life, tasks to accomplish, and more. Receiving a life-changing diagnosis of dementia does not strip a person of their humanity and personhood.
Boredom, depression, chronic pain and/or nutritional deficiencies can be some of the underlying causes that account for excessive daytime sleeping. Medications can also be a problem.
There are many different types of dementia and all of them are progressive. This means symptoms may be relatively mild at first but they get worse with time, usually over several years. These include problems with memory, thinking, problem-solving or language, and often changes in emotions, perception or behaviour.
Rapidly progressive dementias (RPDs) are dementias that progress quickly, typically over the course of weeks to months, but sometimes up to two to three years. RPDs are rare and often difficult to diagnose.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease causes a type of dementia that gets worse unusually fast. More common causes of dementia, such as Alzheimer's, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, typically progress more slowly.
Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is more common in people with Parkinson's disease dementia or Lewy body dementia than in those with Alzheimer's disease. Some factors that may contribute to excessive daytime sleepiness in a person with dementia include the following: Insufficient sleep at night. Sedating medications.
It can be helpful to think of dementia progressing in three stages – early, middle and late. These are sometimes called mild, moderate and severe, because this describes how much the symptoms affect a person.
Stage 7 – Very severe cognitive decline. Stage seven is the final stage of the dementia progression. At this stage, most people will have no ability to speak or communicate. They will require assistance with most daily activities including walking, dressing, bathing, and toileting.
The late stage of Alzheimer's disease may also be called the “severe” or “advanced” stage. In this stage, the person living with Alzheimer's eventually becomes unable to communicate verbally or look after themselves. Nonverbal communication becomes increasingly important.