Wednesday, 01 July 2009
Sleep and Old Age
Sloppy language or not, I can't sleep for shit. I struggle to stay awake past 8PM; sometimes I win but more often the sandman prevails. When he has the upper hand, I awaken at 3AM ready for bear and unless you count more time on the computer as a good thing, there's not much to do in those wee hours.
Plus, since all my energy - physical and mental - is concentrated in the first half of my day, getting out of bed at 3AM doesn't leave much time to accomplish anything. By noon, I'm worn out and am sometimes sleepy enough at mid-afternoon for a nap – not that having one affects the sandman's arrival time.
Nor do I sleep soundly. On average, I wake once to pee and two or three more times for no good reason.
All this led me to grab two of the many pamphlets available to attendees at the recent Age Boom Academy – one a report on what researchers have learned about sleep and age, the other a how-to on improving quality of sleep. A few facts:
• More than half of all people aged 65 and older experience sleep problems• Daytime sleepiness and napping increase with age
• Obesity, alcohol, smoking, nasal congestion and estrogen depletion in menopause increase the risk for sleeplessness
• Insomnia and disturbed sleep have a negative impact on mood, attention, cognitive function, memory and can cause balance problems leading to falls
Researchers have come late to studying sleep, particularly in elders, and it is not well understood. Geriatrician, Robert N. Butler, writes in the preface to one of the pamphlets:
”Quality of sleep is tied to quality of life and, indeed, to the genesis of disease. Sleep may play a salient role in increasing vulnerability to illness and disability. For example, sleep deprivation produces a prediabetic state, and evidence suggests that sleep is important in maintenance of immune function...
“While we do not fully understand its myriad functions, we know that sleep is both restorative and protective.”
Certain medications, diseases, breathing disorders, mental illness and hypnotics prescribed for sleeplessness can cause insomnia and sleep interruption, and should be handled with the help of a physician. Short-term sleep problems such as due to grieving, will take care of themselves in time.
Having none of those indications, I'm personally concerned with not being able to sleep well for no reason. I already follow most of the researchers' suggestions for a better night's sleep, but now I'm going to add these:
• Change my daily hour-long walk to the late afternoon (rather than the morning) but at least three hours before bed
• Eat my largest meal at midday rather than in the evening
• Use the bed only for sleep and sex; no more television or reading in bed (this will be the hard one to follow)
If the statistics are correct, half of you reading this have sleep problems. Here are links to three useful pamphlets about sleep from the International Longevity Center – USA which you can download in PDF format for free.
Sleep, Health and Aging
Getting Your Zzzzzzzz's
The Role of Sleep in Healthy Aging
At The Elder Storytelling Place today: liloldme: Autumn Adventure
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:35 AM | Permalink | Email this post
Comments
I am right there with you Ronni. I already changed my largest meal to lunch. Try to stay away from the computer after 5 PM. Take a hot bath before I go to bed.
I still have the TV on when I go to bed as the drone of the noise puts me to sleep.
I still get up about 2 to 3 times to go to the bathroom. I tried limiting my fluids after 6.
I still get up as though I was going to work. My internal timeclock keeps going off.
Posted by: Nancy B on Jul 1, 2009 7:14:24 AM
I've never thought of my sleep habits as a problem. I've been waking at 3 or 4 for so many years (at least 20) that I consider it normal. For me. And I enjoy the peaceful morning hours so much; watching the sunrise is good for my soul.
True, after I retired I did begin to enjoy naps and I now think of them as something I've earned for my many years of labor. And I take my reward daily for about an hour.
I usually fall asleep over a book around 8:30 or 9. Get and go to bed at 10:30. Wake up once in the middle of the night and then rise at 3 or 3:30. That's about 6 hours and an hour for a nap. Grand total of 7 plus.
I'm happy with it. In fact, I feel cheated when my internal alarm fails and I wake at 4:30.
Posted by: Steven on Jul 1, 2009 8:19:51 AM
I love how you weave into your posts solid information you got at the recent Age Boom Academy. And by "stretching it out" in many posts, we can digest it in context versus reading it in one report that is huge and... uh, hard to read (no matter your writing, which is the best).
And I love Steven's comment, which speaks to going with the flow, and making lemonade of lemons.
Posted by: tamar on Jul 1, 2009 8:30:05 AM
I thank you for writing this and linking the info. For the past few Summers, I have had a tendency to sleep more and feel more tired than winter. Odd?
I had been writing it off to depression and heat. While, this year, my section of the USA, has been mostly rain, I ruled out heat and wrote it off to depression. Yet, this year, more than the past two seasons I started feeling achy and after some research have the consideration that it might be fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue. My understanding so far is that diagnosis is often difficult because symptoms blur across lines for depression,fibro,and chronic. I did read that noise has an effect on Fibro and I live on a very busy street - a large corporation nearby which runs an executive helicopter - and other plane routes that happen. Toss in the lawn folks and the neighbors at varying points and this could be reason for a flare-up coupled with my depression.
As for sleeping patterns, mine started with waking at 3 AM while working a very stressful job and long hours. Since being out of work, sleep patterns change with the weather. If I fall asleep early, I am often up in the middle of the night. As most people know, with our 'puters, that is where we head which I stopped doing as I found it to be a stimulant. Found if I remained quiet and meditative, I would go back to sleep. Now, since I started this pattern I have slept more but not complete start-to-finish sleep.
A friend tells me it part of the process of aging. Perhaps, if this is true - then we need a social network for the 3 AM crowd.
Posted by: Linda on Jul 1, 2009 8:32:35 AM
I've found that the surest way for me to sleep well is to have a physically active--even demanding--day. For example, last Sunday, I spent 3 hours on my feet at the local art show with a friend, then watching Shakespeare outdoors, and then visiting the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Exhibit. (Yes, it was an unusually late night!) Of course, I'm fortunate that I'm physically able to do that.
I've also noticed that upper-body activity (think packing and moving boxes) makes me sleep better.
My next experiment is with aerobic exercise, even just fast walking.
Posted by: mary jamison on Jul 1, 2009 9:02:38 AM
I sleep better in the summer because my gardening, walking, cycling, kayaking schedule. But if I have coffee after lunch, I don't sleep, so I get up and go to the computer or read. When I can't sleep AND my husband is snoring like the Jurassic Park sound track, I want to gong him, but it's not his fault. It's mine, for having that delicious Tim Horton's coffee. Even when I do get a good sleep, I still wake up at the same time I did for school. Can't break that habit. There were a few nights I didn't sleep and then had to teach the next day. That was rough!
Posted by: doctafill on Jul 1, 2009 9:07:15 AM
Interesting that I am reading this after two sleepless nights in a row. I am mentally sluggish and have a headache. I took my sleep aid both nights. It usually keeps me asleep for 7 to 8 hours. I only got 5 hours in two segments the first night, but I only had three hours sleep last night. I think it might be the weather. We have had rain both nights and the humidity is high.
Posted by: Darlene on Jul 1, 2009 10:17:58 AM
Lack of sleep makes slow mentally too. I've been excercising three afternoons a week and it does make me more energetic throughout the rest of the day. My husband is a world class snorer who roams around in the middle of the night, we are trying to figure out a solution, earplugs for instance, other than separate bedrooms. Our air cleaner muffles the noise too.
Posted by: Celia on Jul 1, 2009 10:51:08 AM
I only have sleep problems if I (a) miss out my daily, 3-4 mile brisk walk, or
(b)socialize in the evenings.
We don't have a TV, but I avoid exciting books, computer work or anything that stimulates thoughts in the last half-hour before bed. Instead, I play solitaire games (I have 360 different kinds) on the computer until drowsiness takes over.
As regards meals: the old adage says 'breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, dinner like a pauper' and I think that's excellent advice.
Posted by: Marian Van Eyk McCain on Jul 1, 2009 10:52:17 AM
My mother recently asked me to download the BBC shipping weather report podcasts. She thinks it might be soothing and put her to sleep. Thought I'd give it a try as well.
Posted by: lilalia on Jul 1, 2009 11:41:31 AM
I seldom have sleep problems, but when I do, it is often because of mental stimulation, so I don't watch movies and try not to have intense conversations in the PM. In the evening, I like to play quiet music, do relaxation exercises, meditate, and daydream but not about projects...I'm sure eating lightly in the PM and exercising during the day are also helpful for good sleep.
Posted by: Gaea Yudron on Jul 1, 2009 11:48:13 AM
I was having the problem of waking in the early hours and not getting back to sleep until a few months ago when I recalled you had dealt with the topic of elder sleeping problems last year (June'08). In that one, several people commented that they had some success using an OTC like Advil PM or Tylenol PM. So I've been taking a couple of those when I wake up at 2 or 3AM and can't get back to sleep. Works, but sometimes too well, as they often keep me out till later in the morning (I woke up today at 9:30). But since my day begins whenever I get up, there's not a problem with oversleeping and being late for something.
As for exercise, a doctor once told me that studies have shown people who exercise in the morning sleep better than those who do it at other times.
Posted by: Deejay on Jul 1, 2009 1:09:13 PM
If you take calcium supplements, then you can take the same amount of magnesium before bedtime and it will help you sleep.
I've learned not to go to bed before 10PM and not to watch distressing movies in the evening.
Acupuncture will really help bladder problems and Tai Chi done in the evening will help sleep also.
If I start my day on the exercise bike, or get in an outdoor ride, I am in a better state for the whole day and sleep well. While I ride indoors, I listen to books on the ipod, works better than music since you are distracted by the story and want to keep on going to hear it.
Posted by: zuleme on Jul 1, 2009 1:23:50 PM
Hi Ronnie,
A curse of the aged! (I'm negative today, but that's OK.)
No one in these posts has mentioned sleep apnea and it appears that most are candidates for that possibility. Et tu?
Cheers,
Warren
Posted by: warren cassell on Jul 1, 2009 1:35:49 PM
Hey there :) My mom is in her later 50's and she takes melatonin to help with her sleep. It's an important hormone that diminished with age and is restorative for health as well as highly effective as a sleep aid.
Posted by: maggie may on Jul 1, 2009 1:40:58 PM
The only problem I have is leg cramps. I eat a banana nearly every day and sometimes drink tonic water to stave them off, but they return.
Posted by: kenju on Jul 1, 2009 2:01:23 PM
Kenju -- my mother had leg cramps and the only thing that helped was taking Circu-caps (rosemary and butcher's broom capsules I got at the health food store).
I have problems falling asleep, and I take a tincture mixture of Passion Flower and Kava Kava. It doesn't taste great, but it works. I also know of a place that sells maple flavored Kava Kava glyerite, which tastes a lot better than the tincture. You just take 30 drops of each in a little water before bedtime. Melatonin helps as well.
Posted by: Elaine of Kalilily on Jul 1, 2009 2:28:33 PM
Warren...
I didn't mention sleep apnea because it and some others are serious conditions that can be diagnosed by a physician.
Today, I was writing only about run-of-the-mill sleep difficulties. I should have made the distinction clear in the text.
Posted by: Ronni Bennett on Jul 1, 2009 3:22:22 PM
The other day a friend commented to me that she'd been having trouble sleeping. I asked her how long she'd been using the same mattress. "Oh, about 25 - 30 years", she said. Hm-m-m. Perhaps many people suffering from sleep issues should consider the bed they're spending so many hours of their lives upon. Is it really comfortable or just familiar? Only the AARP pamphlet made passing mention of the need for a comfortable bed for a good night's sleep. I think that as we age, we're more sensitive to pressures on hips, shoulders, etc. and might need a mattress that conforms more to body shapes. I love my firm foam that 'gives' where it needs to and supports, too.
Another thing I've noticed is that as partners age, their sleep styles diverge. My parents switched to separate rooms so they could sleep. My husband and I have separate rooms due to his noisy, busy sleep style and our different circadian rhythms. I know other older couples who've done the same. The bedroom environment is an important factor to consider if you're not getting enough Z-Z-zzzzs.
Posted by: Tarzana on Jul 1, 2009 4:14:17 PM
TVs are not allowed in my bedroom. There are more fun things to do for entertainment in bed. ;^)
Posted by: donna on Jul 1, 2009 5:01:39 PM
Ah, sleep problems. I have them too, and have for about 10 years now. My problems go in cycles, or that's the way it seems to me. I have a time of good sleep, and a time of difficult sleep.
I have trouble falling asleep. I often wake to use the bathroom, but if I've been asleep I usually fall back, unless it is early in the morning.
I have given up the computer after 9 or 9:30. I don't drink coffee after 1 or 2pm. I have a routine which involves TV (Stewart and Colbert) 4 nights a week.
I too, used to go into work bleary eyed sometimes. I have driven home at 5 pm in a daze, and barely awake. I've tried melatonin, but could never tell it helped. Also used a mild sedative for awhile, but I was foggy the next day, so I won't do that.
I appreciated the commonsense comments on this issue today. It sounds as if we have to find our own individual answers to our problems.
Posted by: Sophronia on Jul 1, 2009 5:15:39 PM
Oh, and benadryl is the same thing as many sleep aids. Melatonin is good, too. And I use an air purifier for "white noise" at night. Helps me get to sleep and stay asleep.
Posted by: donna on Jul 1, 2009 5:32:58 PM
I tend to fall irresistibly asleep after my evening meal (and no: I'm not about to have it at midday; we enjoy the evening ritual too much!) and come up intending to go to bed around 10.45pm. Then I find I've wakened up again and do an hour or more on the computer before having a shower. So I'm very rarely in bed before midnight, and usually tend to waken around 7.30am.
Strangely enough, I agree with the comment that I seem to sleep more in the summer - perhaps as a result of the increased time spent in the open air?
Posted by: chris on Jul 1, 2009 6:11:24 PM
I have a ten-month job and am off from mid-June to mid-August. I sleep better during the off time. Also, I know I'm able to take a nap during this time should I wake up at 3 a.m. I do everything I know of that one is suppose to do--exercise, no caffine after a certain hour, etc., etc., and still wake up at 3, 4 or, if I'm lucky, 5 a.m. Most everone I know my age can relate.
Posted by: Claire Jean on Jul 1, 2009 9:12:35 PM
A little paradox for the day (or more appropriately, "the night")
If I nap during the day, I sleep better at night. Even here in India where the intense - "Mad dogs & Englishmen" afternoon heat makes siestas "de rigueur", I still sleep soundly when I turn off the lights at 10:00 PM and don't wake until dawn (I purposely leave blinds & curtains open so I am wakened- gently, by the first light of the day.
Posted by: mythster on Jul 2, 2009 4:16:20 AM
Magnesium will also help with leg cramps. My husband used to have them until he started taking a small amount every day. He no longer needs it.
Posted by: zuleme on Jul 2, 2009 7:17:01 AM
I have had that kind of early-morning wakefullness for over ten years now. The only thing that has consistently helped me to get back to sleep is meditation.
Posted by: Lynn on Jul 2, 2009 10:05:11 AM
I need and get 8 hours a night. I am very active physically, like last Saturday when I biked for three hours, then had to leave the dance -- dancing every dance, of course -- after only two hours because I was tired!
I need my naps, but my secret is to set a timer for usually 20 minutes, not more than 30. This way, I get enough of a burst of energy to get me through to a reasonable bedtime, usually 11 pm.
Posted by: Sixty and Single in Seattl on Jul 2, 2009 11:14:50 AM
It can't HELP that you don't like living where you're living, Ronni. Oh how I wish you could move West.
Did you have the same sleep trouble during your NYC stay recently?
Posted by: Nikki on Jul 4, 2009 3:55:06 AM
