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This happened last summer. When summer began, Mom got worse. Granted there were some very stressful times last summer, but it seems to be happening again. Has anyone else experienced this, or is there something else going on?

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My mother is 94 with moderately advanced dementia and goes to sit outside in the garden at her Memory Care Assisted Living place. She winds up falling asleep and when she's woken up, she's VERY confused and disoriented. Plus, she refuses to drink fluids to keep her properly hydrated, so I'd say yes, her dementia is worse in summer these days for the reasons mentioned.
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Seems kind of odd. The ladies at mom's facility were perpetually cold, even in summer.

One time, before the move to MC, I stopped by my mother's place. She used to fiddle with the thermostat and managed to switch it from Cooling to Heating. It was summer time and the place was like a sauna! I don't like it very hot and in there I was sweating bullets while waiting for the AC to cool the place down! She was quite okay with it that hot. I don't even really like AC - none of my cars have it and my house has one portable (need special expensive unit for crank windows and it can't be too heavy or I won't be able to install it!)

During a nasty heat wave, I showed up to visit, wearing a tank top and jeans. The ladies kept asking me if I was cold. Nope, waiting for my temp to reach normal again, after being out in that heat!

Perhaps she is sensitive to the heat. I've lived in the NE all my life, where it generally doesn't get too hot (sometimes, but not too long usually.) I don't think I could tolerate many other areas that get so hot and humid.

Is it all day every day in summer? Or is it only when it's especially hot? Does it go on all day or only part of the day? If only part of the day, always the same time period? Look for a pattern, if there is one. If it's just all day every day in summer, perhaps it's just her dementia reaction to summer?

This doesn't really cover summer/heat, but might be useful to you or others:

https://www.alzheimers.net/how-seasonal-sundowning-can-affect-alzheimers

A link within that page mentions SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which generally affects people more in the fall or winter, but with dementia all bets are off!!! It even says "...although SAD can also occur in the summer."

https://www.alzheimers.net/alzheimers-and-seasonal-affective-disorder
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Maybe it's because it's light longer.
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Hydration is important. Without it there is lower blood pressure dangers with the consequent falls, faintness, and a bit less oxygen pumped up to the brain. Most seniors don't need the proverbial 8 glasses a day (and those with a failing heart and CHF can't honestly tolerate that for the most part, but Seniors lose the drive to drink, the recognition that they need to take in fluids, and often forgo taking on the fluids that mean, for them, frequent bathroom trips. My brother lived in Palm Springs. The seniors there are, as you can imagine, really beset by summer. This lack of fluids might make the dementia seem worse.
I would say ALL climate adjustment is more difficult for seniors' bodies in general. In winter they lose the body fat that protects them, and their poor balance mean that they have more slips and falls. So just in general life becomes a bit more tricky for all, and adjustments more difficult for the body to make.
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disgustedtoo Jun 2021
While hydration IS important, that "proverbial 8 glasses a day" is actually incorrect. The original testing and results were that we need, on average, 64oz of fluids per day, BUT that includes fluids that occur naturally in the foods we eat and other beverages we drink. I'm sure there are many who don't drink enough, but most don't need to drink 64oz (exceptions might be those who work outside or athletes.)

Some can also actually OVER hydrate. My mother managed to do this and ended up in the hospital, having washed out electrolytes in her system, esp potassium. She was trying to drink that much in addition to other drinks and fluids from foods eaten.
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The elderly are unable to regulate their body temperature as well as someone younger, plus add in the possibility that the dementia is affecting that too. I noticed my mom thinks she can still handle the heat but really can’t, especially as she refuses to hydrate due to her incontinence. I really have to watch that she doesn’t get too ambitious with her outdoor activities or she gets kind of frazzled.
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I suppose it could because any type of stress can worsen symptoms. My Parkinsons support group just discussed the increasing warm weather effects on our symptoms. Just another reason to support efforts to mitigate climate change.
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