Aunt Zhao, 65, wakes up early every day as she grows older. She watched TV at about ten o'clock in the evening to get ready for bed, and woke up at four or five in the morning. When she woke up, she was energetic in cooking and cleaning, and she was not sleepy all day. Many old people in life are like this. They woke up early in the morning and couldn't sleep after waking up. Why is this? How long do middle-aged and elderly people sleep healthy every day?
There are many sleep disorders in the elderly. Sleep disorders are usually caused by the loss of control of reticular activation system and nerves in other areas of the brain, or changes in sleep-related neurotransmitters, which lead to the decline of sleep function and affect sleep quality.
With the growth of age, the various functions of the human body will gradually weaken and the immunity will decline. Inevitably, various diseases, especially hypertension, gout, migraine and other diseases will seriously affect the sleep quality of the elderly, and insomnia will appear more. At the same time, middle-aged and elderly people are sensitive and easily stimulated, which will lead to abnormal operation of the nervous system, thus affecting the quality of sleep and causing insomnia and dreaminess.
With the increase of age, the secretion of melatonin in the human body will decrease. Melatonin (MT) is one of the hormones secreted by the pineal gland of the brain. It is active day and night, suppressed during the day and very active at night. The activity of melatonin can deepen sleep and improve sleep quality. The growth of human age will shrink the pineal gland until it calcifies, thus weakening or disappearing the rhythm of the biological clock, leading to reduced or disordered sleep.
However, the reduction of sleep time for the elderly poses a great threat to their health.
According to a study by Stanford University, when the elderly sleep less than 6 hours a day for a long time, it will make people's attention worse and increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have found that people with insufficient sleep have higher levels of amyloid β protein in their brains, and amyloid β protein is the most easily detected substance in Alzheimer's disease.
In addition, a British survey shows that some people's sleep time has been reduced from seven hours to five hours, and fewer people's chances of getting sick have nearly doubled.
Besides many old people who sleep less, some old people sleep too much.
In 20 18, the Journal of American Heart Association (JAHA) published the research report of a team from Kiel University in England. According to this report, the researchers summarized 74 previous studies (including 3.34 million participants and 240,000 deaths), and then found that sleeping too long for the elderly may be harmful to health, and at the same time increase the risk of other diseases, thus increasing the risk of death.
In addition, there is a U-shaped relationship between sleep time and diabetes risk. Too little sleep and too much sleep will lead to endocrine disorder and nervous system disorder, which is not conducive to the control of blood sugar in the body and will increase the incidence of type II diabetes.
Since sleeping too much and sleeping too little is not good for health, how should the elderly arrange their work and rest?
According to the research suggestion of American Sleep Foundation, the best sleep time for the elderly over 65 years old is 7-8 hours a day, which is most conducive to physical health and mental state. Old people who sleep 7 hours a day have slower brain aging.
However, it is very difficult for people over 60 to sleep for no less than seven hours. What if I can't sleep in the middle of the night? What should I do when I wake up and fall asleep at night?
Then you need to develop some positive habits to help improve your poor sleep!
The first is exercise. The aging of the body is inevitable, but exercise can delay the decline of physical function and improve the immunity of the body. Of course, strenuous fitness training is not suitable for the elderly, which is not only difficult to achieve health care effect, but may even accelerate the decline of physical function.
The elderly should choose appropriate exercise methods according to their physical adaptability. Tai Ji Chuan and Qigong are both exercise methods suitable for the elderly. For middle-aged and elderly people who like to dance square dance and ballroom dancing at night, we must pay attention to the intensity and time of dancing, and exercise should also be combined with rest.
Secondly, we should pay attention to diet. In the middle-aged and elderly population, with the decline of physical function, the loss of nutrients in the body will also accelerate. Therefore, the elderly can eat some foods with high protein and nutrition, and fruits, vegetables, bean products and dairy products should be taken in reasonably.
Although many young people now choose to buy high-priced health care products for their parents, health care products are not omnipotent and cannot be eaten casually, especially for the elderly who have "small problems". They should choose health care products under the guidance of doctors, and a balanced and nutritious diet is the best "health care products".
However, some middle-aged and elderly people will suffer from insomnia for a long time. Besides physical examination, the mental health problems of the elderly can not be ignored. Although people are old, they are still under great pressure. They worry about their children and grandchildren, always recall their previous lives, and even the death of the elderly around them will affect their psychological state and lead to poor rest.
As the saying goes, "the early bird catches the worm", which is also often used to motivate students who have difficulty getting up. Getting up early is also very beneficial to their health, but the premise of getting up early is to go to bed early. Going to bed late and getting up early not only leads to mental fatigue, but also leads to decreased immunity and increased risk of illness.
Many studies have shown that going to bed early and getting up early can improve human immunity, not only improve the ability to resist influenza, but also reduce the risk of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.
At the same time, for female friends who love beauty, going to bed early can maintain the vitality of the skin and promote the metabolism of the body, while getting up early can make people feel better, the skin condition will gradually improve and people will be more energetic.
A study in an American university found that students who can persist in getting up early have a more regular life and are more enthusiastic about learning, so they usually have better grades and higher physical fitness than those who like to stay up late.
Summary:
Sleep is the most important way for people to rest every day, and maintaining a good sleep state can be more beneficial to their health. Therefore, we must pay attention to sleep problems in life and adjust our work and rest in time.
References:
Bai Yaping, Lin Ying, Wu Dongmei, Zheng Cuihong. Sleep quality of middle-aged and elderly hypertensive patients in rural areas and its influencing factors [J]. China Journal of Gerontology.2021,4 1 (13).
I'm Dr. Li, and I'm serious about popular science. I'm committed to sharing health knowledge and protecting your health in easy-to-understand language.