Seeking a night "clock" for Mum who can't tell the time in bed

[Relm]

My Mum lives at home with me and she sleeps in her own room. She can't tell the time. Instead of waiting for the carers to visit, she sometimes gets up if it is bright outside and wanders around the house.

Is there anything we can use instead of a "clock" to help her orient herself regarding the time? I was thinking maybe there's a device which changes colour so that at night it is one colour and as morning approaches it changes into another colour.

I'm looking for ideas on what I might be able to buy.

Perhaps a voice operated device. We have the Amazon's voice controlled Alexa Echo speaker but it only speaks the time (which my Mum can't make use of) and it doesn't say how many hours it is to getting up time which would be useful.

Maybe there's an app for Android which can control the lights or speak out responses about time remaining to get up.

Any ideas?

 

[Amy in the US]

I am sure others will be along with better advice, but I recall reports of people using a dedicated iPad, desktop computer, or other device, to display the time, date, and maybe other information, such as "time to sleep" or whatever is useful.

I am sure you already know this, but have you tried blackout blinds and curtains in her room, if daylight is a cue for her to get up? Or does she get up and open the curtains?

I imagine if you have enough "smart" features in your home, that there would be an app that could control lighting, just are there are apps to remotely control thermostats and so forth, but I don't have any personal experience of this.

Hope you find something that works.

 

[Amy in the US]

This is one of the threads I remember: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/sho...adiability-Making-a-Device-Need-Advice-Please

This talks about some other types of clocks: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?78162-Dad-has-no-idea-of-time

Getting up at night: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/sho...all-times-at-night!&highlight=clock+wandering

Time disorientation: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?50140-Time-disorientation&highlight=clock+wandering

Hope something in there is helpful, even if it's just to reassure you that you're not alone with this issue.

 

[MERENAME]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gro-Compan...UTF8&qid=1492609147&sr=8-1&keywords=glo+clock

I found this useful and can be bought second hand on ebay. Worth a try for a few pounds.

 

[Tin]

All I could find that helped was hanging very dark curtains and then when mum started to open these I put up a blind - this she found a little more difficult to work out how to 'open'.

Have to add that light or dark my mum still wanders around at night, although these days she tends to stay in her bedroom, does occasionally open other doors but if the room is dark, she will not go in and usually ends up back in her own room.