Sleep, Wonderful Sleep

In response to "What can my mom and I do ...?", I'm not a doctor of any kind. So take my suggestions with a big grain of salt.

I say that if  you and your mom are getting sleepy every day at 10am, then sleep! Enjoy it! Don't beat yourself up about it.

I realize that may be difficult if either or both of you have jobs, or even demanding ones.

I remember in my last "corporate" job (working for Yahoo!) that I would get really sleepy in the mid-afternoon. It wasn't due to sugar at lunch - I eat very well.

I think it was about me working in a job that didn't challenge me enough. For a person like me, that situation causes stress. I suspect that my need to sleep was about dealing with that stress.

So at Yahoo!, I wuld go into a "break room", lock the door, lie down on a couch, and nap fo 30 minutes. I'd wake refreshed.

I never questioned my body as to why it wanted to sleep. I just listened to it.

Well, since I left Yahoo!, and I now work out of my home, I don't seem to have the need to nap in the day. This is the case unless my sleep the night before was disturbed.

Anyway, in addition to all of the wonderful counsel drLove gave you, I'd suggest that the two of you honor your bodies through this difficult time and respect its call for sleep.  It sounds like it's related to the stress.

If, some weeks and months after your aunt passes on (please acept my condolences), and you still need these 10am naps, then I'd be more interested in looking deeper.

Last point. Around the time my mom died in 1999, I don't remember if I slept and/or napped more. But I woudn't be surprised if I had. A month after her death, I experienced a morning that could be described as depression. Technically it's called "grief". But it sure seemed like depression.

I had never felt that before or since. I know it was tied to my mom's death. It was just my body's reaction to this extraordinary stress. IMHO anyway.