Is it common for Alzheimer's patients to sleep 14 or more hours per day?

At that age energy reserves are very low- last summer had to take 95 year old father from nursing home to get bedsore looked at by a dermatologist- ten minute ride. Slept in wheelchair (no problem) but as the doctor was examining him he remained sound asleep throughout the whole thing!

@ Scared: I was/am so glad to read about other's dealing with the issue of sleeping for 23+ hours at a time! I have just let him do this and at first would check on him every few minutes to make sure he was still breathing because I was so worried. Time went by and I grew to appreciate the days he slept anywhere from 16-23 hours and counted them as his gift to me because I could rest and if I had any energy, even get some things accomplished around the house due his many demands when he was awake. It IS scary - at first - but since you and the doctor have ruled out any infections, TIA's etc, it does seem like it is 'the nature of the beast'.

My husband w mild dementia also sleeps lots. Early to bed late to rise w/naps in between. If I wake him to go someplace it takes a lot longer to get ready so plan extra time. I sometimes feel the outside air helps a little. Our Dr. said whats wrong w/sleeping? It certainly is better than up at night. I thank the Lord for his rest.

I can't disagree with what anyone has said here, and I thank you for taking the time to reply. I guess it's just normal. I'm so new to this because this changes my husband and I are experiencing came on suddenly just about a month ago. Doctors can't find any medical condition to explain it (infection, TIA, etc.) It is apparently just the nature of the beast. Learning to cope is just so hard....I am researching on line and trying to find out as much as I can. Unfortunately, so much of it is just too confusing and overwhelming for me to comprehend. Always thought I was pretty smart...not so much now. I often feel like I'm in a foreign land where everyone is speaking a different language that I don't know. That is why is am "scared"....fear of the unknown is so hard to deal with.

I think it is a blessing that he is able to sleep. So many caregivers are dealing with sun downing and agitation from their loved ones. Sleep is natures way of dealing with many hard parts of our lives. As we wind down I think we need more sleep, just as infants need sleep as they are growing. I would not wake my infant and my Mom can sleep all she wants - she deserves it at 90 years old.

I am caring for my 80 year old mother who has Alzheimers and we are suspecting also Lewy's Body Dementia. She sleeps 12-14 hours at night and then likes to dose during the day. Everything is exhausting for these poor people. Things that you and I do with minimal effort requires so much more energy to move commands and thoughts through their minds let alone getting the body to respond. You are not a bad caregiver for not making him get up and go and be involved with everything. To what degree you can, let him set the pace. A shower and meals are about all my mother can handle in a day. We just make those necessary things as pleasant as possible.

Letting him sleep and stay in bed is easier than trying to fight. And its surprising how strong he still is.

So, when they just want to sleep we just let them? I have always tried to get mom up and moving, doing something, but lately all she wants to do is sleep, not eat, seems to have lost all interest in everything...I truly believe that if she lived alone she would just lay in bed until someone found her...I think her will to live is gone. But how do we deal with that? Is it ok to just let her sleep her life away? I don't know the answers, but I think we are all "scared". Hugs to you and prayers being sent your way...hang in there.

Husband has Alzheimers. Mid 70s. He sleeps most of the time, wants to stay in bed. Sometimes he just lays there, not sure what he is looking at, he rarely puts the tv on anymore. Gets up, comes out for more juice, then back to bed. Sometimes he sleeps, I would say, about 23 hours a day. Nothing keeps him interested, as I said he seldom puts the tv on. And he might turn it off after a few minutes. At least I know where he is.....he eats in the bedroom, gets up to use the bathroom. I believe his brain cannot be stimulated enough to keep it alert, awake.

Father with alz/dementia was sleeping almost all day and night. Eat, sleep in recliner, nap, eat, sleep in recliner, nap, etc. Had covers over his bedroom windows so it was like a cave. But that seemed "normal" for someone in their nineties. Would have been great that way until the end- then went to the hospital with an infection and never walked or came home again. Spent almost 3 years in a SNF which I wouldn't wish on anyone. Passed away two weeks ago when he was almost 96. I believe sleep is just nature's way of handling old age.

My mother had low thyroid, along with taking blood pressure and cholesterol meds. Once she got the thyroid med her sleepiness was resolved in additon to taking another cholesterol med that she can take at any time and does not make her sleepy and she was taken off the bp med.

It is possible that your husband has Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, but the more usual combination is Parkinson's and Dementia with Lewy Bodies, since both Parkinson's and DLB involve protein deposits in the brain, called Lewy bodies (for the doctor that discovered them). What kind of a doctor is treating your husband for this? Is it a neurologist well experienced with dementia?

Anyway, whatever type of dementia he has, the excessive daytime sleepiness may be treatable. My husband took Provigil for that condition and it was very helpful for years. Have you discussed this problem with your husband's doctor?

As my husband entered the end stage he began to sleep more and more, and the medication became ineffective. Eventually he sleep more than 20 hours a day.

My husband's doctor knew that his condition (Dementia with Lewy Bodies) could not be cured, but he felt strongly about giving his patients the best quality of life they could have. So he treated the excessive daytime sleepiness right up until the last stage. I am grateful for that.