We have had quite a good day today without doing anything special.  We have been busying ourselves with normal domestic tasks and pottering in the garden. M seems to need lots of naps again.  She is on the sofa for the third time today and may now be down for the night.

Most people who have experience of dementia suggest letting sleeping dogs lie.  I can see the sense of that because every time my wife wakes up it takes her ages to come round.  She generally thinks it is morning; even if it is dark outside.  When she wakes she tends to ask me if I have had a good night’s sleep.

If she remains asleep until our bed time I will rouse her gently and nurse her upstairs to bed.  With care I can move her from the sofa to the bed.  Get it wrong then confusion, and distress, will confront us both as she tries to work out where she is.

I have mentioned before that we were warned that exhaustion is a common after effect of stroke.  It might also be a sign of further progression of dementia.  Rest is the only way that the brain can recover from the strains and stresses of the day.  Any brain that has faced the double whammy of stroke and dementia faces overload all day long: the only remedy is rest.