The study’s lead author, Dr. Rebecca Robbins of Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, said in a telephone interview that “sleep and health are really inseparable,” and that people’s sleep system is at its maximum in their years. ” 30’s and 40’s, but then start rejecting.
Strategies to improve sleep, she said, include avoiding naps during the day so that sleep comes in one block at night; only reserve beds for sleeping, as opposed to other activities such as reading or watching television; and exposed to natural light during the day.
Limiting or avoiding caffeine, the “most commonly used drug in the world,” is also helpful, Robbins said, since each dose provides a person with five to six hours of energy. People who have trouble sleeping, she said, may want to replace caffeinated drinks with other drinks they enjoy consuming, such as seltzer water.
Robbins and her team used data from older adults enrolled in the National Health and Aging Trends Study, which focuses on Medicare recipients age 65 and older. Since 2011, survey data has been collected from participants annually.
According to the Brigham, 2,610 participants answered sleep questionnaires in 2013 and 2014, and researchers examined answers about sleep disturbance and deficiency, including responses about alertness, nap frequency, how long it took people to fall asleep, sleep quality, sleep duration, and snoring. .
They also collected information about patient outcomes, such as dementia and death from any cause, up to five years after the survey, the statement said.
Overall, the statement said, over time the research team found a strong relationship between sleep disturbances and deficiency and dementia.
Routinely taking half an hour or more to fall asleep was associated with a 45 percent greater risk of dementia, the statement said.
And routinely struggling to stay alert, nap frequently, report poor sleep quality, and sleep five hours or less each night were also associated with an increased risk of death, according to the statement.
“This prospective study shows that sleep deprivation at baseline, when the mean age of the participants was 76 years old, was associated with the double risk of incident dementia and all-cause death over the next four to five years,” said senior author Dr. Charles Czeisler, head of Brigham’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, said in the statement.
Czeisler said the “data adds to the evidence that sleep is important for brain health and highlights the need for further research into the effectiveness of improving sleep and treating sleep disorders related to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. and mortality. “
In addition, the research team advocates additional analysis of the links between sleep and dementia and death.
“Our study shows that very short sleep periods and poor quality sleep in the elderly increase the risk of developing dementia and earlier death,” said study author Dr. Stuart Quan, who also works in Brigham’s sleep disorders department. “More attention needs to be paid to ensuring healthy sleep in older adults.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe