Why Having Insomnia & Sleep Apnoea Puts Your Heart At High Risk

From mindbodygreen.com

You've tried all the viral sleep hygiene tips. You keep your room cool, you put your phone away, and you even invested in a fancy mattress. And yet, you're still waking up exhausted. If that sounds familiar, there might be more going on than just an endless cycle of "bad sleep." 

New research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that having both insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (a combination called COMISA) is associated with more than triple the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The study followed nearly 1 million U.S. Veterans for up to 20 years, making it one of the largest investigations into how these two common sleep disorders affect heart health.

                                                                                    Image by Danil Nevsky / Stocksy

What is COMISA?

       

 COMISA stands for comorbid insomnia and obstructive sleep apnoea. In simpler terms, it means having both conditions at the same time.

Insomnia is the struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. Sleep apnoea is when your breathing repeatedly stops and starts during the night (often accompanied by loud snoring or gasping). These are the two most common sleep disorders, and they occur together more often than you might think. In this study, about 14% of participants had both.

What the research found

The study included 984,946 Veterans who were followed for up to 20 years. Researchers compared those with no sleep disorders, insomnia only, sleep apnoea only, and COMISA.

Here's what they found:

• COMISA was linked to a more than 2-times increase in hypertension risk
• COMISA was linked to a more than 3-times increase in cardiovascular disease risk
• Having just insomnia or just sleep apnoea also raised risk, but the combination was significantly worse
• These associations held true for both men and women

Why disrupted sleep strains the heart

During healthy sleep, your heart rate and blood pressure naturally dip, giving your cardiovascular system a chance to rest and repair. When sleep is fragmented or disrupted, that recovery doesn't happen the way it should.

Sleep apnoea causes intermittent drops in oxygen levels, which stresses the heart and blood vessels. Insomnia keeps the body in a state of heightened alertness, triggering inflammation and chronic stress responses. Together, they create what researchers describe as a "perfect storm" of cardiovascular strain.

Signs you might have COMISA

You might have COMISA if you experience:

• Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep and waking up feeling unrefreshed
• Loud snoring or your partner noticing you stop breathing during sleep
• Waking up gasping or with a dry mouth
• Daytime fatigue despite spending enough time in bed

One important note: Many people with sleep apnea don't know they have it. If your sleep feels broken despite doing everything "right," it's worth looking into.

What to do about it

If any of this sounds familiar, talk to your doctor about a sleep study. It's the only way to definitively diagnose sleep apnoea.

Treating both conditions matters. For insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is considered the gold standard. For sleep apnoea, treatments like CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) or other therapies can help keep your airway open during sleep.

The researchers emphasize that sleep problems are common, measurable, and treatable. They recommend evaluating sleep as routinely as other major cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure and cholesterol.

The takeaway

COMISA is more common than you might think, and the good news is that both conditions are treatable once you have a diagnosis.

Prioritizing sleep isn't just about having more energy. It's about protecting your heart for the long haul. If you're experiencing symptoms, ask your doctor if a sleep study makes sense for you.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/having-both-insomnia-and-sleep-apnea-could-triple-your-heart-disease-risk-study-finds

Why sleep gets worse after 60 and how to fix it

From telegraph.co.uk

By Liz Hoggard

Changes to our hormones and brain circuitry in our seventh decade can shatter a good night’s rest – here’s how to get things back on track 

I wake with a start at 3am, and toss and turn for hours. Eventually, at 7am, I drift into a fitful doze. Then, bang, the alarm goes off. It takes 10 minutes to come to, where once I would have leapt out of bed.

Why does sleep become a struggle after 60? In your 20s and 30s you can literally sleep under a table at a party. But as you age, so many variables can shatter a good night’s rest – street noise, snoring, light, a new relationship.

“As we age, the brain circuitry that maintains and stabilises sleep becomes less effective. This includes changes in melatonin levels,” says Guy Leschziner, a professor of neurology and sleep medicine at Guys & St Thomas’. As a result, older adults spend more time in light sleep and less time in rapid eye movement (REM) and restorative deep sleep. Light sleep is more easily disturbed, so we can wake up three or four times a night.

Another big change is that after 60 our body clock shifts noticeably and we will, on average, want to go to sleep two hours earlier than we did in our late teens or early 20s, often waking in the early morning, around 3am or 4am. This is thought to be driven by changes in our sex hormones (oestrogen in women, testosterone in men). “In your 60s, you’re getting up and going to bed about the time you got up and went to bed when you were 11 or 12,” says Russell Foster, a professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford.

Even if we’re working less, we still need proper rest. “Scientific evidence points to the fact that we probably don’t need much less sleep in our 60s than we did in our 40s – it’s just we’re less good at achieving it,” says Prof Leschziner. “The focus needs to be on getting that balance right between maximising sleep quantity and quality, but not getting yourself into an absolute maelstrom of anxiety.”

So how can we shift sleep back in the right direction?

1. Get early evening light

A third of older adults report early morning awakening and/or difficulty staying asleep on a regular basis. Getting more light during the day helps us sleep better at night by boosting cortisol and suppressing melatonin, which helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. “If you expose yourself to very bright light in the morning, as soon as you wake up, it’s going to shift your biological rhythm forward so you’ll fall asleep earlier,” says Prof Leschziner, who is also the author of The Secret World Of Sleep: Tales of Nightmares and Neuroscience. However, if you prefer to go to sleep later, avoid very bright light in the morning hours. “If you want to delay your body clock, because you’re getting up at 5am and are ready for bed at 8pm, then expose yourself to as much bright light as possible with a late afternoon/evening walk to shift your circadian rhythm.”

If it’s dark in the evening, you could use a bright light therapy lamp such as Lumie Vitamin L (£99) to regulate circadian rhythms, manage winter blues (SAD), and treat sleep disorders caused by shift work or jet lag. Using the lamp in the early evening helps “larks” shift their sleep patterns to a later time.

2. Consistent routine

According to Prof Foster, one of the easiest ways to achieve sound sleep is to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This routine reinforces exposure to environmental cues – especially light, but also food and exercise – that help train the circadian system. “Sleep quality is as important as sleep duration,” advises Prof Leschziner. “One of the things that retired people often do is get up when they want. That can lead to a variability of sleep timings, not great for sleep quality overall. Try to keep your sleep and wake timings as regular as possible.”

Lie-ins or sleeping late at weekends disrupt the circadian rhythm and you end up feeling “jet-lagged” on Monday. “It’s also independently associated with increased cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome, so difficulties with insulin, managing sugars and weight gain,” adds Dr Allie Hare, a consultant in sleep and ventilation at the Royal Brompton Hospital and president of the British Sleep Society.

Diet is another effective cue for regulating the circadian system. “You can use what you eat and what time you eat to entrain the circadian rhythm,” says Dr Hare. “We have clocks in our gut, and actually one of the ways in which our brain figures out what time of day it is, is whether you’re consuming a roast dinner or a bowl of cereal.”

3. Eat dinner earlier

A late or heavy meal high in sugar and fat can make our sleep lighter because our body is using its energy to digest food instead of focusing on the processes that need to take place when we sleep. “A high protein supper, such as boiled eggs or baked beans on toast, is ideal,” advises Prof Foster. Limit caffeine after 2pm, too. “Alcohol is particularly good at disrupting REM sleep, which is where we lay down memory, so that becomes increasingly an issue as we get older,” says Dr Hare.

4. Stop fluids two hours before bed

“The question that I am most often asked about sleep is ‘How do I stop needing to get up at night to pee?’, or, expressed more formally, to avoid urination (nocturia),” says Prof Foster. The hormone vasopressin regulates urine production and its rhythm changes with age, so he advises talking to your GP about taking desmopressin, a synthetic hormone which can help manage nocturia by mimicking vasopressin.

Prof Foster also notes the importance of vitamin D on sleep in older adults. “We know light is important for kicking off vitamin D synthesis, but most window glass blocks UVB, which the skin needs to make vitamin D. So sitting by a window can be great for your circadian health – you’re getting that morning photon shower to set the clock – but it won’t give you sufficient vitamin UVB exposure to make vitamin D. Have a blood test to check iron levels and vitamin D.”

5. Retrain your brain

We are creatures of habit, according to Prof Leschziner. “For a good sleeper, there’s almost a Pavlovian association between the bed and being asleep,” he explains. “The bed is relaxing and conducive to sleep. But if your sleep has been disrupted for a prolonged period of time, whether due to something biological like menopause, or a significant period of stress, that breaks down those positive associations and rebuilds very potent associations with bed being a place where you’re awake and anxious, and so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“This is why there has been a move towards a form of non-drug-based treatment to address insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), in essence a form of brain retraining, trying to break negative associations and rebuild positive associations. We know it helps around 80 per cent of people.”

In the short-term, your GP may prescribe melatonin supplements or CBT-I to re-establish a healthy sleep pattern. “But other key aspects of this treatment include leaving your bed and going into another room to read or listen to music if you are awake for more than 20 minutes, and also a brief period where you are encouraged to partially sleep-deprive yourself.”

6. Exercise strategically

Exercise in some form can help sleep/wake timing and reduce insomnia, particularly if it is outside under natural light in the morning. Because the homeostatic drive for sleep reduces as you age, try to move more, says Dr Hare. Similar to how a battery drains, the longer you are awake, the more a compound called adenosine builds up in your brain, creating “sleep pressure”.

Physical activity speeds up this metabolic process, increasing adenosine levels and causing your body to crave rest and recovery. Prof Leschziner explains: “Aerobic exercise is very good for increasing the depth of your non-REM sleep. It doesn’t have to be in a gym or on a rowing machine. A nice, long walk in daylight every day will impact the quality of your night-time sleep.”

Prof Foster agrees, adding that it’s good to exercise at the same time each day to reinforce the circadian cycle. “People with companion animals, especially dogs, report better sleep due to the exercise and light exposure they provide.”

7. Don’t obsess

It’s important not to pathologise age-related changes in sleep. “We think of sleep as this rebellious monster we have to bludgeon into submission, whereas actually we should think of it as a cuddly teddy that is sometimes a bit difficult to embrace,” says Prof Foster.

Don’t expect to sleep like a 20-year-old, agrees Dr Hare – sleep drops from 7-8 hours to 6-7 hours a night and waking up at 4am or 5am is pretty normal in your 60s. It’s important not to let your sleep become yet another thing you’re worried about. The occasional bad night’s sleep won’t kill us. Instead, she recommends evidence-based strategies to quieten the busy mind. “Have a 30-60 minute buffer zone between work, social media, news cycles, all the things that add to worries and anxieties, and going to bed.

“If you constantly run through lists of all the things you need to do, there’s a strategy known as ‘cognitive control and constructive worry’. You have a notebook or download sheets you fill out. Essentially you’re getting all this stuff out from your brain on to paper in a very prescribed fashion. It stops you feeling powerless.”

8. Limit naps to 30 minutes

Longer naps may be counterproductive, as recovery from an extended nap can leave us feeling groggy with lowered alertness (known as “sleep inertia”). Naps within six hours of bedtime reduce sleep pressure.

“Quite frankly, if somebody in their 60s or 70s says to me: ‘I can sleep anytime, anywhere, whenever I want’, that raises anxiety in me,” says Prof Leschziner. “It makes me wonder whether they’ve got a sleep disorder, like obstructive sleep apnea, which is associated with getting older and putting on weight, and so the muscles of the airway become a little laxer. Or maybe the circuitry in their brain is degenerating and causing them to have sleep attacks during the day.”

There is evidence frequent napping during the day may be a precursor of neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s.

9. Beware sleep trackers

None of the experts I spoke to are particularly keen on consumer sleep tracking devices, which can increase sleep-related anxiety. Measures of REM versus non-REM or even “deep sleep” are more difficult to assess from currently available devices like Fitbits. “They’re based on movement algorithms as opposed to pulse wave changes,” Dr Hare explains. “So if you lie very still, it thinks you’re asleep.

“Additionally, we have found that if someone has had a really good night’s sleep, but we falsify that data to make them think they’ve had a really bad night’s sleep, they will perform as if that’s the true data. Not only will they feel like they’ve not slept well, but in cognitive testing, they will perform worse. The best guide, truly and honestly, is how you feel when you wake up before you flip to your tracker.”

Sleep apps are not ideal for the ageing community, agrees Prof Foster, who is also the author of Life Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health, because most were developed and tested on Californian undergraduates.

10. Have a hot bath before bed

The “warm bath effect” shows cooling core body temperature before bed improves sleep quality, says Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. When you get out of a hot bath (of around 41C), your core body temperature actually plummets and this increases the amount of deep sleep by 18 minutes, and decreases time awake by 20 minutes.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/wellbeing/sleep/why-sleep-gets-worse-after-60/

The quiet danger of cannabis: You fall asleep easily – and pay the price in sleep

From jpost.com

Cannabis has become a common solution for sleep problems. Many users report that it “puts them to sleep” – but the medical picture regarding actual sleep quality is more complex

The natural temptation: Insomnia is one of the most common complaints in modern medicine. Against the backdrop of concern about addictive medications and side effects, cannabis is perceived by many as a more natural and safer alternative. Reports from the field are consistent – inhalation or drops before bedtime ease falling asleep and create a feeling of relaxation. However, when examining the picture through medical reports, it becomes clear that the question is not only how quickly one falls asleep, but what the sleep itself looks like.

                                  Insomnia is one of the most common complaints in modern medicine     (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

Sleep physicians and neurologists describe in clinical reports that cannabis indeed shortens the time it takes to fall asleep, a phenomenon known as shortened sleep latency. This effect is mainly attributed to THC, the primary psychoactive substance in cannabis, which acts on receptors in the brain associated with calming and reducing arousal. For people who suffer from stress, anxiety, or difficulty “turning off the head,” this effect is clearly felt.

However, this is where the critical difference between falling asleep and quality sleep emerges. Normal sleep is built from sleep cycles that include different stages, foremost among them the REM stage – dream sleep, which is essential for emotional processing, memory, and mood regulation. Repeated medical reports indicate that regular cannabis use, particularly strains high in THC, reduces the duration of the REM stage. The meaning is lighter sleep, even if the total sleep duration does not shorten.

Doctors report that patients who use cannabis over time tend to wake up less refreshed, suffer from concentration difficulties the following day, and sometimes also from a decline in mood. Some do not associate this with cannabis use, because they still experience rapid sleep onset, but sleep quality is impaired beneath the surface.

                                                                                                     Cannabis (credit: freepik)

Another problem that arises in clinical reports is the phenomenon of tolerance. As cannabis use continues, the body becomes accustomed to the effect, and the user requires a higher dose to achieve the same sedative effect. When attempting to stop or reduce use, a withdrawal syndrome sometimes appears that includes severe insomnia, frequent awakenings, intense dreams, and even nightmares. This phenomenon is well described in medical reports and reinforces the claim that cannabis is a short-term solution that may create functional dependence.

The CBD component, which is considered no less controversial, is also not free of ambiguity. Medical reports note that CBD may reduce anxiety in some people, but its direct effect on sleep is not uniform. In some users it is actually stimulating, especially at low doses, and does not guarantee consistent improvement in sleep quality.

In this context, sleep physicians emphasize that cannabis is not a first-line treatment for insomnia. It does not solve the deeper causes of the problem, such as poor sleep hygiene, mental burden, depression, or other sleep disorders. Its use may mask the real problem and make accurate diagnosis and treatment more difficult.

What can people who have difficulty sleeping and are not interested in relying on cannabis or sleeping pills do. Medical reports repeatedly return to the same basic but effective recommendations, maintaining fixed sleep hours, avoiding screens before bedtime, regular physical activity, and reducing caffeine and alcohol in the evening hours. In persistent cases, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is considered one of the most effective and safest tools.

The conclusion emerging from medical reports is clear. Cannabis can help with falling asleep, but it does not guarantee better sleep, and sometimes even harms it. It is a temporary solution that may exact a price in the long term.

In the bottom line, cannabis is a loan of sleep. It may be granted quickly, but the interest, in the form of impaired sleep quality and dependence, may be revealed later.

Dr. Itay Gal is a specialist in paediatrics, a sports and aviation physician, and a researcher of infectious diseases. The health correspondent and medical commentator of Maariv and a lecturer in the fields of medicine and innovation.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/sleep/article-888764

 

Why some brains refuse to switch off at night, researchers explain

From business-standard.com

Scientists have found that disrupted circadian rhythms may keep the brain alert at night, preventing the mental disengagement needed to fall and stay asleep

Your body may be ready for sleep, but your mind just refuses to wind down. For millions of people living with insomnia, this phenomenon occurs every night.

 

According to new research, the solution to this phenomenon may lie in the body’s internal clock. In a study titled Cognitive-affective disengagement: 24h rhythm in insomniacs versus healthy good sleepers, published in the journal Sleep Medicine, scientists have found that in people suffering from chronic insomnia, the mental clock, or the day-night rhythm of mental activities, is delayed and weaker in comparison to healthy individuals. This delays the process of moving from a sharp mental state to a dull mental state, which enables the start of sleep.

According to scientists at the University of South Australia, this delayed mental clock may be the reason for the constant mental activity in people suffering from insomnia.

What did the study find about Insomnia and Circadian rhythms?

For the study, 16 older adults with sleep-maintenance insomnia and 16 healthy adults with good sleeping habits were monitored for 24 hours under a ‘constant routine’ condition, where the lights were dim, no naps were allowed, and food was controlled, among other conditions.

 

Every hour, the participants were asked to rate the content of their thoughts, including the tone, quality and controllability of the thoughts.

The researchers found that mental activity has a predictable daily pattern in good sleepers. Afternoon mental activity is more structured, goal-oriented and reality-based. But as night approaches, the mind gradually changes. Mental activity becomes image-based, dream-like, unstructured and unrelated to goal-oriented activity.

 

They found clear circadian rhythms in healthy sleepers, with peaks in mental engagement in the afternoon and troughs in the early morning.

 

The researchers found 24-hour rhythms in people with insomnia as well, but their rhythms were flatter and delayed.

 

Three major differences stood out:

• Delayed peaks: Their cognitive peaks were delayed by about 6.5 hours. In effect, their brains were still running daytime-style thinking deep into the night.
• Reduced amplitude: The difference between their daytime alertness and night-time quietening was smaller. Scientists call this reduced “circadian amplitude”.
• Persistent sequential thinking: Insomniacs showed more “sequential” thinking, thoughts that move step-by-step in a logical chain, especially at night.

 

In other words, their brains failed to downshift.

Scientists say disrupted 24-hour brain rhythms may prevent the mind from switching off at night. (Photo: AdobeStock)

Is Insomnia just anxiety, or is there a brain link?

According to the study, anxiety levels were higher in insomniacs. Anxiety has been known to produce sequential thinking. However, the researchers do not consider anxiety to be the main reason for insomnia.

 

The study shows that it is possible that insomnia and anxiety have similar underlying causes in the brain. This is the hyperactivity of the prefrontal regions of the brain. The mind may not be willing to give up control.

What does cognitive hyperarousal mean in Insomnia?

Many people with insomnia describe a “racing mind”. Scientists refer to this as cognitive hyperarousal, a state in which the brain remains alert and engaged when it should be disengaging.

However, the hyperarousal may not just be psychological. It may be driven by a misaligned internal clock that keeps cognitive systems active too late into the night.

 

Sleep, as the authors note, is not merely closing your eyes; it requires the brain to disengage from goal-directed thought.

Can strengthening circadian rhythms help treat insomnia?

According to the researchers, if insomnia involves weakened or delayed circadian signals, then therapies aimed at strengthening daily rhythms could help. The researchers highlight interventions such as:

• Timed bright light exposure
• Structured daily routines
• Activity scheduling
• Mindfulness-based therapies to reduce sequential thinking

Mindfulness, in particular, may interrupt linear, chain-like thinking and encourage a more non-judgmental mental state, closer to the cognitive drift that precedes sleep.

If confirmed in larger studies, treatment could become more personalised to realign the brain clock of people suffering from insomnia.

https://www.business-standard.com/health/why-some-brains-refuse-to-switch-off-at-night-insomnia-study-126030300334_1.html

Why does your sleep change as you get older?

From irishnews.com

Many people have problems dropping off as they age, but disrupted nights shouldn’t be inevitable – here, experts suggest solutions that may help

There are many disadvantages to getting older – and one of them is poor sleep.

The British Geriatrics Society says approximately 40% of people aged 65 and over experience insomnia regularly, with up to 75% suffering from some form of sleep disturbance.

But in the approach to World Sleep Day (March 13), the good news is that although there are many reasons why sleep may deteriorate as you age, it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Fundamentally, your sleep doesn’t have to change in your 60s or 70s, but circumstances tend to create a lot more vulnerability around that ageing point,” says Professor Jason Ellis, director of the Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research at Northumbria University.

“A lot of the challenge  we have for older adults is they’re being taught this is normal – ‘Oh, it’s normal that you shouldn’t sleep well, just as it’s normal you should have aches and pains’. That’s not true. The vulnerability is there, but it’s not a fait accompli. It doesn’t mean that every older adult shouldn’t have good sleep.”

And Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, adds: “It’s important to stress that poor sleep is not an inevitable part of ageing. While sleep patterns change, persistent sleep difficulties shouldn’t simply be accepted as ‘just getting older.’”

Increasing vulnerabilities

Both experts agree that certain vulnerabilities make older people more susceptible to sleep problems, and Ellis explains: “Once we hit our 60s, we’ve got a lot of things that increase vulnerability – illnesses, medications, multiple losses, those things can create more vulnerability to sleep problems.

“Similarly, we tend to put on a bit of weight, and that increases vulnerability to breathing problems at night. And menopause is not great for sleep at all, because you’re losing oestrogen and progesterone, and they help keep women’s sleep systems in terms of breathing at night quite open.”

Decreased melatonin

Ellis says melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle, decreases after puberty.

“That’s actually the beginning of the time our sleep system starts to degenerate,” he says. “So year-on-year, we start producing less melatonin naturally, and we start changing the architecture of our sleep.”

This means we start to lose some of the deep, slow-wave sleep needed for physical functioning from the age of about 25, he explains. “So by the time somebody’s reached their 60s, they’re a lot less structured with their internal sleep mechanisms than they were in their 20s. There’s a gradual decline.”

And Artis says:  “Sleep naturally changes as we age – particularly from our 50s onwards. While older adults still need around seven to nine hours of sleep per night, the structure and quality can shift quite noticeably.”

                                                             How to protect the quality of your sleep as you age (Alamy Stock Photo)

Shift in circadian rhythm

Several biological and lifestyle factors contribute to changes in the internal body clock of older people, says Artis. Hormonal shifts, including the reduced melatonin, play a role, she explains, and ageing is also associated with changes in brain function that affect sleep regulation

“Older adults often feel sleepy earlier in the evening and wake earlier in the morning,” she says. “This is sometimes referred to as a ‘phase advance’ in sleep timing.”

More easily disturbed

The decrease in deep, slow-wave sleep in older people means it’s easier for their lighter sleep to be disturbed, explains Artis.

“As we get older, we tend to spend less time in deep, restorative sleep and more time in lighter sleep stages,” she says. “This means we’re more easily disturbed by noise, light or physical discomfort, and many people also find they wake more frequently during the night and may struggle to get back to sleep.”

Lifestyle changes after retirement

(Alamy Stock Photo)

The rhythm of life tends to be a lot more structured for working people than retirees, Ellis points out. People who work will often have fairly regular times when they get up, eat, exercise, socialise, etc, whereas in retirement there’s less need for such structure, and this can affect sleep.

“Losing those patterns can make the system more vulnerable to being more flexible about getting bouts of sleep here and there, rather than in one big chunk,” he says.

And Artis adds: “Retired people may nap more during the day, be less physically active or spend less time exposed to natural daylight – all of which can influence sleep quality.”

Erratic sleep may not be good

Older people may think that as long as they get the right amount of sleep over a 24-hour period, it doesn’t matter when they get it. However, Ellis warns: “We’re starting to see research suggesting that keeping the same timing in sleep is actually as important, if not more important, than how much sleep we’re getting.

“We start to look at the regularity of sleep, as opposed to how much of it, if somebody is erratic. But unfortunately, most of the research has been done on younger adults or adolescents in this area, so we don’t fully understand yet whether the same thing applies with older adults and the regularity of their sleep.”

How is erratic sleep affecting you?

It’s natural for us to worry if our sleep has changed and/or we don’t think we’re getting enough of it. But Ellis stresses: “The first thing is to determine whether it’s causing you a problem. How do you feel in the daytime – is your sleep affecting your performance and what you need to achieve?

“If it is, then this is something you should be talking to your GP about.”

Ellis says these days a GP won’t automatically prescribe sleeping pills for a sleep problem – for insomnia, for example, he says cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which works on dysfunctional beliefs, attitudes and habits that may affect sleep, may be recommended.

And if someone’s sleep is being disturbed because of sleep apnoea (when breathing stops and starts while sleeping), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which opens the airway at night, may be suggested, he says.

“There are lots of therapies out there, and they’re not all reliant on medication,” stresses Ellis. “It’s working out what the problem might be, and then tailoring that to the solution to try to maintain a better sleep health framework.”

And Artis points out: “While it’s common for sleep to feel lighter or more fragmented as we age, ongoing sleep difficulties shouldn’t be dismissed as simply part of getting older.

“Small adjustments to routine, light exposure and bedroom environment can make a significant difference. And importantly, support is available – good sleep remains vital for physical health, cognitive function and emotional wellbeing at every stage of life.”

https://www.irishnews.com/life/why-does-your-sleep-change-as-you-get-older-6PCVUUCVSJJHNMQ43SBZPCNH6A/