| |||||||||
June 11, 2008Normal sleep linked to successful aging |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds a link between normal sleep and healthy aging. Items related to less daytime napping and fewer complaints of sleep maintenance insomnia best predicted successful aging. Increased severity of sleep disturbance also predicted lower self-rated "successful aging" and a greater difference between perceived and actual age, and this result again remained significant after controlling for depressive symptom severity. "Our findings that reports of better sleep are related to successful aging reinforce the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health," said Dr. Ancoli-Israel. "Health care professionals need to ask their patients -- of all ages -- about sleep and help those with poor sleep to find ways for improvement." A study of adults over 65 found that 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep. Nighttime sleep schedules may change with age too. Not sleeping well can lead to a number of problems. Older adults who have poor nighttime sleep are more likely to have a depressed mood, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more nighttime falls and use more over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids. Those who have trouble sleeping are advised to see a sleep specialist at a facility accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
