SLEEP BETTER
Adequate sleep is important for continued everyday good health. Too little sleep, (less than six hours), of sleep, or too much more than nine hours, of sleep is associated with reductions in cognitive ability. Ways to prevent or control insomnia include: getting regular exercise, avoiding high calorie snacks, sugar, large amounts of caffeine, and extreme levels of activity late in the evening before going to bed. Methods that help to gain a restful sleep include: having a quiet, cooler bedroom with little or no light. Sometimes a warm bath aids in having a restful sleep.
Sleep disordered breathing (apnea) may impair cognitive ability in older adults. What is called a continuous positive airway pressure device is the treatment for this disorder. This device has the potential to improve cognitive ability at least in the short term as well as reducing risk for cardiovascular disease, an important cause of dementia.
How can risk from lack of sleep be reduced?
Population and intervention studies suggest that insomnia may impair intellectual ability in older adults and their treatments such as computer cognitive training have the potential to reduce this effect. The long-term effects, however, of these interventions are unknown. The current evidence-based treatments for sleep disordered breathing are non-drug approaches, such as weight reduction and the use of a continuous positive airway pressure device.
Sleep medication should only be used as a short-term treatment for insomnia. The dangers of taking sleep medication for prolonged periods of time include: possible side-effects, addiction to the medication, contraindications with other medications and the fact that sleep medications interfere with all five stages of sleep, particularly REM sleep.
Before deciding to take sleep medication, the following alternative methods could be considered. Assess the room for sleeping to determine if it is conducive to having a good night’s sleep. Eliminate computers or televisions in the bedroom. Block additional lighting from street lights or an alarm clock. Reduce noise levels or operate a fan to disguise any background noise. Some people use devices that create sounds of rushing water to help fall asleep. This is called “white noise”.
Physical activity during the day helps to ensure a good night’s sleep. A few hours of daylight exposure is necessary to preserve melatonin to ensure a good night’s sleep. Napping during the day should be avoided. Sleep can be improved sleep if the bedroom is cooler (less than 18 C degrees) rather than hotter (more than 20 C degrees). As sleep is important for better health, like other health improving activities, a routine for sleep should be established. A standard time to go to sleep and a standard time to wake up should be followed. Seven hours of sleep each night should be the goal. Avoid having a light snack, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, stimulation from television programs, computer games and excessive exercise before going to sleep. However, vigorous exercise is desirable in the morning or late afternoon. Deep breathing before sleep helps to relax and fall asleep.
For families caring for someone living with dementia, pragmatic strategies can be used to help get a better sleep. These strategies include: motion activated night lights, red bulb in night lights, a fan to reduce noises, television on a timer and passive body warming, such as having a bath before bed.
A warm bath or holding a warm ‘wheat bag’ for ½ hour before going to bed can help raise core body temperature. How does it work? Just before falling asleep the body temperature rises for a short period. As the body cools off you feel sleepy. That is why a warm bath before bed can act as an aid in falling asleep. So as the warm bath raises the body temperature for a short time, the cooling off after the bath can aid in falling asleep.
Am I on the right track with my sleep?
In order to ‘invest’ in future good-quality hearing, start in mid-life with, exercise, maintaining social engagement, reduce or stop smoking, and manage your hearing depression, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
The following checklist can be used in checking that you are advancing your efforts to have good-quality sleep:
HOW COULD YOU USE THIS KNOWLEDGE TO ACHIEVE YOUR OWN OBJECTIVES ?
Adequate sleep is important for continued everyday good health. Too little sleep, (less than six hours), of sleep, or too much more than nine hours, of sleep is associated with reductions in cognitive ability. Ways to prevent or control insomnia include: getting regular exercise, avoiding high calorie snacks, sugar, large amounts of caffeine, and extreme levels of activity late in the evening before going to bed. Methods that help to gain a restful sleep include: having a quiet, cooler bedroom with little or no light. Sometimes a warm bath aids in having a restful sleep.
Sleep disordered breathing (apnea) may impair cognitive ability in older adults. What is called a continuous positive airway pressure device is the treatment for this disorder. This device has the potential to improve cognitive ability at least in the short term as well as reducing risk for cardiovascular disease, an important cause of dementia.
How can risk from lack of sleep be reduced?
Population and intervention studies suggest that insomnia may impair intellectual ability in older adults and their treatments such as computer cognitive training have the potential to reduce this effect. The long-term effects, however, of these interventions are unknown. The current evidence-based treatments for sleep disordered breathing are non-drug approaches, such as weight reduction and the use of a continuous positive airway pressure device.
Sleep medication should only be used as a short-term treatment for insomnia. The dangers of taking sleep medication for prolonged periods of time include: possible side-effects, addiction to the medication, contraindications with other medications and the fact that sleep medications interfere with all five stages of sleep, particularly REM sleep.
Before deciding to take sleep medication, the following alternative methods could be considered. Assess the room for sleeping to determine if it is conducive to having a good night’s sleep. Eliminate computers or televisions in the bedroom. Block additional lighting from street lights or an alarm clock. Reduce noise levels or operate a fan to disguise any background noise. Some people use devices that create sounds of rushing water to help fall asleep. This is called “white noise”.
Physical activity during the day helps to ensure a good night’s sleep. A few hours of daylight exposure is necessary to preserve melatonin to ensure a good night’s sleep. Napping during the day should be avoided. Sleep can be improved sleep if the bedroom is cooler (less than 18 C degrees) rather than hotter (more than 20 C degrees). As sleep is important for better health, like other health improving activities, a routine for sleep should be established. A standard time to go to sleep and a standard time to wake up should be followed. Seven hours of sleep each night should be the goal. Avoid having a light snack, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, stimulation from television programs, computer games and excessive exercise before going to sleep. However, vigorous exercise is desirable in the morning or late afternoon. Deep breathing before sleep helps to relax and fall asleep.
For families caring for someone living with dementia, pragmatic strategies can be used to help get a better sleep. These strategies include: motion activated night lights, red bulb in night lights, a fan to reduce noises, television on a timer and passive body warming, such as having a bath before bed.
A warm bath or holding a warm ‘wheat bag’ for ½ hour before going to bed can help raise core body temperature. How does it work? Just before falling asleep the body temperature rises for a short period. As the body cools off you feel sleepy. That is why a warm bath before bed can act as an aid in falling asleep. So as the warm bath raises the body temperature for a short time, the cooling off after the bath can aid in falling asleep.
Am I on the right track with my sleep?
In order to ‘invest’ in future good-quality hearing, start in mid-life with, exercise, maintaining social engagement, reduce or stop smoking, and manage your hearing depression, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
The following checklist can be used in checking that you are advancing your efforts to have good-quality sleep:
- I am getting seven or more hours of sleep each night and not sleeping more than nine hours
- I do not wake up during the night more than once
- I am able to go to sleep most nights
- I do not sleep during the day
HOW COULD YOU USE THIS KNOWLEDGE TO ACHIEVE YOUR OWN OBJECTIVES ?
- Keep a sleep diary for a week, just the number of hours and how often you wake in the night is sufficient
- /If you are not getting seven hours a night look at the NHS Choices sleep improvement programme and put the advice into actionNB men may wake once or twice to pass water and have to accept this. If it is a problem they should try to manage it by controlling fluid intake after 6pm rather than seeking medical help in the first instance because of the risks of prostate surgery
- Make sure they see this as a problem as well as you
- Discuss the NHS Choices Sleep improvement programme with them