7 Best Clocks for Dementia

CLOCK VIDEOS + REVIEW :

"What time is it?" and "What day is today?" may be repeated too often by people with dementia. It's disorienting and frustrating for everyone. DEMENTIA CLOCKS offer patience, convenience and good looks. Check out these 7 options.

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For people with dementia, a calendar-clock is more than a convenience; it is an anchor. In early stages of dementia, it's easy to lose track of time. In the middle stages of Alzheimer's, a loved one may frequently drift into the past.

Flip Calendar Clock
Seniors are more comfortable with old-fashioned analog clocks. They tell time with hour-and-minute hands, rather than digits.

A well-placed clock-calendar keeps a person with dementia oriented and in the present.

Serious memory loss can result in the repeated asking of, "What time is it?" or "What day is today?". Calendar-clocks always have the answer. They are patient and ever-convenient, no matter how quickly and no matter how often a person forgets.

Calendar Clocks

Calendar-clocks prominently display the month, day, date and time. Some also add the year, which can be helpful when a loved one gets lost in the past.

Are calendar-clocks too complicated for a person with dementia? More elaborate calendar-clocks may add weather and other information. Though this provides an extra connection to the outside world, too much information can be more confusing than helpful.

Digital Calendar Clock

A healthy balance between simplicity and thoroughness can be found in calendar-clocks like the one to the right. It prominently displays the more important time and day in large letters and numbers, while providing the less important, but relevant, month, day and year in small letters and numbers. It uses no abbreviations and can be set to any of eight languages. The language feature is particularly important in dementia, where a person's childhood mother-tongue language tends to be retained the longest and is easiest to work with.

Keep in mind that digital clocks became common in the 1970s. People born before then will sometimes be more comfortable with a traditional "analog" clock, with two hands and 12 numbers.

Day Clocks

There are a variety of "Day Clocks" available which emphasize the day of the week. Some display the day of the week, while others also tell you whether it is morning, afternoon, evening or night, and still more combine the day of the week with the time of day. Here are illustrations of all 3 types:

Day Clocks

Whatever you get, keep in mind to check the size of the display. A large-number display is easy to read from a distance. Having the month spelled out in letters instead of numbers can be an important advantage to many people. Bold, high-contrast letters and numbers can make a difference to the eye.

Figure out your needs and where you plan to place the clock. Some clocks run on battery and some need an outlet nearby. Ask yourself if you want to hang it on a wall or stand it on its own. Then choose the right clock and never lose track of time again.

Talking Clocks

Just say, "Alexa, what time is it?" Amazon's Echo Show will answer in a pleasant voice, to anyone in the room, from almost any distance. The time and date are also displayed on the screen.

We recently gave my dad the gift of Amazon's Echo Show. With the Echo Show, the time is always on display near where he spends most of his day. Whenever he asks me, "What time is it," I say, "Alexa, what time is it?" and the Echo Show tells us in a sweet, ladylike voice. He gets the hang of it quickly enough, and the next time he wants the time, date or weather, he asks Alexa directly.

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LED Day Clocks

LED day clocks are great for the visually impaired, with their large, bright displays. LED day clocks offer other conveniences, such as having an alarm clock bed-side. When a person with dementia wakes up in the morning, it is very helpful to have the day on display in addition to the time.

Low-Cost Alternatives: Android Tablets

What if a caregiver did a one-time set-up of a calendar-clock app on a tablet? They could simply hang it on the wall or stand it on any little table. The person with dementia would not have to do a thing. It is an inexpensive way to get a full-featured personalized calendar-clock for under $50.

There are a wealth of free "clock-apps" in the Google Playstore, along with some rather inexpensive tablet displays. Though many of these apps display digital clocks, some artistic ones have good ol' fashioned "analog" clock displays with 2 arms and 12 numbers in a bold circle.

Analog displays, with a round clock face and an hour & minute hands, are important to many elderly people who grew up with this style of telling time.

The bottom line? One can get a bright, beautiful, helpful calendar-clock for under $40, complete.

Best Android Clocks

Here is a sampling of the best Android apps for people with dementia.

1. Dementia / Digital     Diary / Clock
   FREE. A highly configurable clock display with events that are remotely configurable using any shared calendar.
2. Simple Analog Clock (Good ol' fashioned traditional analog clock face. Free.)
3. Photo Clock Live Wallpaper (Free. Offers options like a traditional analog clock face or a clock background using your picture.)
4. Super Clock Wallpaper (Free)

All these apps are free or cost less than $3.

TABLETS: If you don't have a spare tablet lying around to hang as a wall-clock, there are a wealth of cost-saving tablets to match every size, style and budget. The following are Amazon's best values:

• 7 Inch tablets
  
• 9 Inch Tablets
  
• 10 Inch Tablets
  
• 12 Inch Tablets
  

Apple iPad

Apple iPad users should be able to find these or similar apps. Here are some examples:

• RecallCue Day Clock
  
• MyDay&Clock

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.”
Albert Einstein

2-in-1 Calendar Clock + Day Clock

New to the world of Day Clocks is the 2-in-1 clock. For the early stages of dementia, it functions as a calendar clock, displaying the day, date and time in large type. For the later stages of dementia, the clock can be switched to Dayclock mode, where it will say a more simple message, such as: "Now it's Thursday Afternoon". This orients the person with dementia with the minimum amount of information. Check out the following video to see how it works. Click to Enlarge