http://www.ivillagehealth.com/print/0,,562730-ext,00.html
Reuters Health - 2003-02-04
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older adults who have no
problems sleeping, such as waking up during the night or taking a long time to
fall asleep, may have a survival advantage over their peers who find sleep more
of a struggle, new research suggests.
The study discovered that people who were seemingly healthy
but spent more than 30 minutes trying to fall asleep were more than twice as
likely to die within an average of 13 years than people of similar age who fell
asleep more quickly.
Dr. Mary Amanda Dew and her colleagues also found that
people who spent a smaller percentage of their time in bed snoozing were also
almost twice as likely to die within the same period as their easy-sleeping
peers.
The researchers also report a shorter lifespan among people
who spend the least or the most time in REM--the dream phase of sleep--compared
with those with an average amount.
Dew said that minor sleep problems may act as a "subtle
indicator" that seemingly healthy people have undetected problems that
could, in future years, affect their well-being.
As such, slight changes in an older person's sleep behavior
may act as "an early harbinger that other things were going to go
wrong," Dew noted.
For example, researchers have shown that people with
dementia or depression may experience changes in their sleeping patterns, and
these two conditions can hasten death, Dew added. Consequently, recent patterns
such as taking a long time to fall asleep or waking up often during the night
may be a reflection of early signs of dementia or depression, she noted, which
may, in future years, put someone's health in jeopardy.
Dew cautioned that occasional difficulties falling asleep
and waking from time to time during the night can be perfectly normal. However,
if an older adult experiences a change in his or her sleeping pattern that
seems to persist over time, it might be wise to consult a doctor, Dew said.
During the study, the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
researcher and her colleagues measured the brain activity of 185 people between
59 and 91 years old during sleep, then followed the same people for an average
of 13 years. None of the people had health problems that are known to affect
sleep.
More older adults report having problems sleeping than any
other age group, Dew and her colleagues note in the report in the journal
Psychosomatic Medicine. Consequently, it makes sense for all older adults to
adopt certain habits to help them rest well, Dew said in an interview.
These healthy sleeping habits include dedicating an area
strictly to sleep, which is kept quiet and dark when sleeping. People should
avoid caffeine and alcohol immediately before falling asleep, she added, and be
careful that lengthy naps don't interfere with nightly sleep.
Sleeping too much during the day can make it hard to fall
asleep at night, Dew said. For people who need to take naps during the day, she
recommended sleeping in bouts of 15 to 20 minutes, which may provide the
benefits of longer sleep without disrupting a person's general sleeping
schedule.
Napping is like most things in life, Dew said. "If you
do it in moderation, it's probably helpful. If you do it too much, it itself
could be an unhealthy thing."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Daniel F. Kripke of the
University of California, San Diego writes that the current study,
"surprisingly," did not report that sleeping too little can hurt
health.
This is particularly remarkable, given that 40% of the people included in the study slept less than six hours each night, he notes.