Something new has arisen. At home he often didn't sleep nights..nor did I. He has been in memory care assisted living 6 months and recently for about a week he has not slept one night through. He gets up, comes out of the room for a bit..back to bed and repeats this throughout the night. No behavior issues, just not sleeping. He gets trazadone at 2 pm daily which relaxes him before sundowners and he seems sleepy after this pill. The nurse will see him Monday and maybe they could give him something to help him sleep at night. (I asked why he couldn't get the trazadone at bedtime instead of 2pm but they said he takes it to help sundowning.). He doesn't take very many drugs at all. Might melatonin maybe help and is it pretty benign to take? Otherwise he seems as usual, eating well, confused, yes, but no more than he usually is. Things are going ok I think, just I get upset hearing he doesn't seem to sleep at night. I try to keep him awake and moving when I visit daily and they advise the recliner rather than the bed daytime...but he slips into bed when their backs are turned. I love the care he gets, just wonder if melatonin might do the trick? Any other suggestions? How bad is it if he dozes in the day but not at night. Is he getting enough rest?
He still takes naps but he's doing better about sleeping at night now. As another commented, when they age, they do tend to sleep a lot more. Think a really big baby to get the idea. Babies sleep a lot the first year - and seniors sleep a lot the last years.
LuvR2, if this isn't troubling your husband and it isn't something the staff at the unit are concerned about - I expect they are well used to dealing with night-time wakefulness - then perhaps you should try not to let it worry you so much?
Works wonders on my da.