Decreased Hormone Production Lead To Sleep Disorders In Older People

Changes are quite obvious with age and initially they are unnoticed. They are like passing of weathers, quite adoptive. Slowly, over time, people realize these changes. They find that they are not hearing that acute when more than usual they see that their family members have to go louder when they have to tell them something. While they read newspaper they find it difficult to read the fine prints and have to call their son or daughter to read those fine prints for them. Likewise they also realize that their sleep has altered with time. It is not that a body does not need that same amount of sleep after certain age. In fact; it has been proved by the researches that the amount of sleep remains constant throughout adulthood.

Behavioral Practices And Lifestyle Changes Are Responsible

Every adult needs at-least seven to eight hours of sound sleep every night. However, a sound good night’s rest is must as body grows older. Usually, behavioral practices and lifestyle changes play major role in changing our body’s sleeping pattern. When we take a nap at the lunch hours in the office or at home we feel less tired at bedtime. Poor sleep habits are rooted well in the society that hinder most of the good sleep. You may find beds associated with music systems and televisions in most of the families these days and that’s the biggest reason why conventional time of sleeping is missed. Stress and worries are other factors that hinder sleep of adults.

Sleep Changes In Adult And Elderly

• Adults and elderly people tend to sleep less
• Sleep structure (the five stages of sleep) changes with age
• Elderly awake more frequent in their night time sleep
• They are tend to nap more as they have free time in the afternoon
• Lack of motivation and irregular daytime schedule leads to disinterest from the sleep
• Physical and mental health problems adversely affect sleep quality in the older people

Lower Mental Stimulation Lead To The Aging Of The Sleep

We need to know the cause behind these sleep difficulties. The one most common amongst all is less secretion of certain chemicals responsible behind sleep/wake cycle in human. Both, the growth hormone and the melatonin production disrupts with age. Melatonin is the substance that is produced by a small gland (the pineal gland) that promotes the sleep. Body’s temperature cycle also reschedule itself with age. The biggest factor that is found in a research tells something different but very practical about the aging of the sleep. According to that daytime inactivity and lower mental stimulation (that is very obvious with older people) lead to a steep decline in sleep.

More Studies On DSPS And Other Sleep Disorders In The Elderly

Elderly and adults also face a problem that is evident more in adolescents, the problem of delayed sleep phase syndrome. They find it difficult to get in to the sleep even after 2 to 3 hours of desired clock time. DSPS can also lead to daytime fatigue and excessive daytime sleeping. People usually rely on sleeping pills to deal with delayed sleep phase syndrome. However, new medicines are being discovered to offer better solutions for sleep disorders in the elderly. Researches are also being done on the use of various hormones; hopefully these approaches would prove promising for middle-aged and elderly people having sleep difficulties.