Aging can bring many positives-including wisdom and an ability to take the long view on challenging situations. But when it comes to sleep, getting older can bring up issues we didn’t have in our younger years.
A lack of sleep or poor sleep quality can affect a range of health indicators for people over 60, according to Edward S. Goldberg, MD, founder of a concierge medical practice in New York City.
Many things change in terms of metabolism and hormones as we age, says Goldberg. So a lack of sleep can lower testosterone, raise blood pressure, and increase your risk of depression.
Chronic sleep disturbance has also been linked to obesity, heart disease, and other potentially serious medical conditions. A UC Berkeley study even found that older people’s unmet sleep needs can increase their risk of memory loss.
In fact, psychology professor Matthew Walker, PhD, one of the study’s authors, said, nearly every disease killing us in later life has a causal link to lack of sleep.
The good news is, there are steps you can take to sleep better and overcome the various sleep problems you might experience as you get older. Here are six of the most common sleep-disrupting issues that can happen as you age along with suggestions for dealing with them.
Insomnia
According to the American Sleep Association, 30% of adults in the U.S. report short-term insomnia, and 10% report chronic insomnia.
Rebecca Park, RN in New York City and founder of the blog RemediesForMe.com, says insomnia is more common in middle-aged and older adults-and women are more likely to develop it than men.
Acute, or short-term, insomnia is defined as trouble falling or staying asleep at least three nights a week for at least two consecutive weeks. Chronic insomnia means it lasts longer than three months.
Insomnia is more common in middle-aged and older adults-and women are more likely to develop it than men.
Park defines these common signs of insomnia:
How to treat insomnia
Making lifestyle and dietary changes is the key to addressing your insomnia. Health experts offer these insomnia cures you can try for a better night’s sleep:
Sleep apnea
If you wake up feeling exhausted even though you think you had a full night’s sleep, you may have sleep apnea. This sleep disorder that becomes more common as you age causes you to stop breathing while you’re asleep, potentially many times a night.
During these brief periods, called apneas, the muscles in your tongue and the back of your throat relax, causing your airway to narrow or become blocked when you breathe in. Sleep apnea is a serious condition as it can increase your risk for other serious conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke.
Kent Smith, DDS, board-certified dental sleep medicine specialist and president of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy, says although the signs of sleep apnea vary, these are the most common ones:
How to treat sleep apnea
Be sure to see your healthcare provider if you suspect you have sleep apnea.
If your doctor determines you have sleep apnea, you’ll most likely be prescribed an apparatus called a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. CPAPs work by sending a constant flow of air into your throat which causes your airway to stay open while you sleep.
You may also find relief by changing your sleep position. If you’re a back sleeper-the position most prone to aggravating sleep apnea-try sleeping on your side. Side sleeping helps stabilize the airways and reduce the chance they’ll collapse or restrict air.
Restless Legs Syndrome
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis-Ekbom Disease (or colloquially as jumping legs or irritable leg syndrome) causes unpleasant or uncomfortable sensations in the legs often resulting in a strong urge to move them, creating “restless legs.”
People with RLS describe the feelings as tingly, crawling, and even burning.
RLS usually occurs at bedtime, though it can also happen while you’re sedentary during the day. An estimated 7%-10% of the U.S. population suffers from RLS symptoms.
An estimated 7%-10% of the U.S. population suffers from RLS symptoms.
It’s more common in women and can begin at any age, although it worsens as you get older. While there’s no cure, non-drug therapies are an option in most cases. Most people with RLS symptoms ignore them, but the lack of diagnosis and treatment can reduce your quality of life.
How to treat Restless Legs Syndrome
Although only a medical professional can diagnose RLS, once you know you have it, there are steps you can take to relieve the symptoms and get your sleep back on track. Here are five quick tips to help mitigate unpleasant RLS symptoms:
Nighttime urination
An estimated 50 million people in the United States wake up two or more times a night to empty their bladders, a condition known as nocturia. Although the majority of people with nocturia are over 60, it’s estimated to affect as many as one in 10 individuals aged 45 or younger.
People with severe nocturia may get up as many as five or six times during the night.
Nocturia can wreak serious havoc on your sleep-and your overall wellbeing. A study of 1,214 women demonstrated that nocturia had a significant impact on quality of life in patients who made at least two trips to the bathroom at night. Increased sick leave and lower work productivity have also been reported by people with nocturia.
As many as two-thirds of adults ages 55 to 84 experience nocturia at least a few nights per week.
Among older adults, nocturia increases the chance of falls. Studies have shown that people who make at least two or more trips to the bathroom at night have a greater than twofold increase in the risk of fractures and fall-related fractures.
Nocturia can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
How to treat nighttime urination
If you suspect there’s a medical reason for your nocturia-BPH or a UTI, for example-it’s best to speak with your healthcare provider. But here are four things you can do to at least minimize nocturia:
Pain
Older adults often deal with a variety of aches and pains, any one of which can make it hard to get a good night’s sleep. The good news: A new mattress can help ease some of the pain elderly people experience at night, says Tom Tozer, chiropractor at Imperium Chiropractic in Eau Claire, Wisc.
How to treat pain
Here are some tips to help you find the right mattress based on your particular pain and make sleeping more comfortable at night:
REM sleep behavior disorder
We don’t normally move during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a normal stage of sleep that occurs many times throughout the night, accounting for about 20% of our total sleep time. It’s the sleep stage in which we dream.
In the case of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), the Mayo Clinic explains that you physically act out vivid, often unpleasant dreams with vocal sounds and sudden, often violent arm and leg movements during REM sleep. It’s sometimes called dream-enacting behavior, and it can worsen over time.
One of the biggest risk factors for REM sleep behavior disorder is being male and over 50. However, more women, even those under 50, are being diagnosed with it these days. It can be associated with narcolepsy, brain tumors, or antidepressant use.
Signs you may have RBD include:
How to treat REM sleep behavior disorder
The Mayo Clinic says RBD can be the first sign of developing a neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, or dementia.
This is why it’s important to follow up with your doctor if you develop RBD. To diagnose RBD, your doctor will review your medical history and symptoms. Your evaluation may include a physical and neurological exam, talking with your sleep partner, and conducting an overnight study in a sleep lab.
Treatments include medication and making changes to your sleep environment to keep you safe.
For more information on sleep problems and how to treat them at any age, check out our guide to sleep disorders.
