Understanding Aging And Sleep & Its Impact On Brain Health

As the clock of life ticks forward, our bodies and minds inevitably undergo changes. One crucial aspect of this journey is sleep, an essential component that profoundly influences our overall health, including brain function.

Aging brings about various shifts in sleep patterns, and understanding the intricate relationship between aging and sleep, and brain health is vital for promoting cognitive vitality and maintaining a high quality of life.

In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the multifaceted impact of sleep on aging brains, the changes that occur in sleep patterns as we age, and actionable steps to foster brain health as the years advance.

What sleep deprivation does

When deprived of enough sleep, we suffer from fatigue, clouded thinking, and possible metabolic dysregulation leading to diabetes and obesity.

For older people, sleep issues can be more than a matter of discomfort; they can lead to more serious complications. Falls resulting from fatigue and confusion, memory problems or forgetfulness, feeling depressed, difficulties with their daily functioning, and a diminished quality of life.

Despite the widely-held view that sleep difficulties are a normal accompaniment of the ageing process there are, in fact, many healthy older adults who report few or no sleep problems.

So, sleep patterns change with age, but lack of sleep and then waking up tired and disoriented daily are not part of normal ageing.

How sleep changes with age

According to a report from the Harvard University, even though we need around eight hours of sleep even as we age, we may struggle to get them in one go.

Most people find that aging causes them to have a harder time falling asleep. They wake up more often during the night and earlier in the morning. It may be harder to fall asleep and we may spend more total time in bed. Also, in addition to changes in sleep duration, sleep patterns change as we age.

The two systems that regulate the timing of sleep, the sleep-wake homeostat and the internal clock, interact with each other. Under normal conditions, these two systems keep us alert throughout the day and enable us to sleep throughout the night. As we age, however, the window during which the internal clock enables sleep narrows. This disrupts the normal sleep pattern.

Changes in the production of hormones, such as melatonin and cortisol, may also play a role in disrupted sleep in older adults. As we age, the body secretes less melatonin, which is normally produced in response to darkness and helps promote sleep by coordinating circadian rhythms.

There are also other reasons for poor sleep as we age: insomnia and disrupted sleep are common side effect scaused by many chronic medical conditions like arthritis, congestive heart failure, depression, and gastroesophogeal reflux disorder.

Respiratory disorders like sleep apnea, which cause multiple arousals during the night, also become more common as we age. Other problems, like night-time urination, restless legs syndrome, day-time napping etc can make it difficult to fall asleep or lead to highly fragmented sleep.

Sleep and brain health

Poor sleep is linked to biological ageing. A study done by UCLA researchers discovered that just a single night of insufficient sleep can make an older adults' cells age quicker and that insufficient sleep may increase the risk of chronic disease by activating the molecular pathways that drive biological ageing. This has the potential to bring on a lot of diseases.

A National Institute on Aging-supported research on sleep and ageing, indicates that poor sleep may be both a sign of ill health and a trigger for processes related to disease and biological ageing.

1. Depression

Poor sleep is also related to depression in old age, according to several studies. A University of Michigan team has found that disturbed sleep is associated with depression, regardless of the number of chronic medical conditions you have.

The researchers show that older adults diagnosed with a higher number of chronic medical conditions–such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic lung disease, heart attack or other heart trouble, stroke, cancer, and arthritis—have higher levels of depressive symptoms.

People sleeping poorly who also have heart trouble face a particularly high risk of having depressive symptoms. Prolonged depression along with acute lack of sleep also has an effect on cognitive functioning.

2. Dementia

Severely disturbed sleep may be an early signal of impending dementia, a team of Canadian researchers show in a 2014 research published in the journal ‘Current Alzheimer Research’.

Otherwise healthy older people may experience disturbed sleep, including severe insomnia and daytime sleepiness, prior to displaying other dementia-related symptoms, like memory loss. Dementia is known to profoundly disrupt the sleep-wake cycle of people with the disease and leave them highly active at night.

According to a 2016 study published in the journal ‘Sleep’, dementia-related brain changes may be linked to regularly sleeping less than six hours per night and may begin in middle age. Compared with those who slept between six and eight hours per night, the brains of short sleepers had a greater concentration of white matter hyperintensities (a hardening of arteries in the brain), which have been linked to stroke and vascular dementia.

Research that appears in the journal in 2016 ‘Neuron’ suggests that sleep impairment is both a consequence and cause of the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Similarly, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley show that disrupted sleep related to Alzheimer’s disease may be different from or significantly more severe than typical age-related sleep impairment. Some people with Alzheimer’s sleep too much; others don’t sleep enough. Some people wake up many times during the night; others wander or are highly disturbed at night.

3. Impaired memory

Sleep and memory are commonly affected by the general ageing processes of the brain. These processes include gray and white matter atrophy, synaptic degeneration, reduced blood flow, and changes in neurochemistry.

Age-related changes in brain regions involved in memory processing such as the hippocampus also adversely affects the quality of memory consolidation. Impaired memory consolidation during sleep affects their daytime memory performance.

According to a 2004 research published in the journal ‘Neuropsychopharmacology’, there is evidence that disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression are associated with disturbances of both sleep and memory.

Healthy sleep habits as we get older

Detecting sleep problems early and intervening with medications or behavioural change is crucial, and can have long-term benefits for physical and mental health. Here are a couple of tips for older people to improve their sleep:

1. Get some exercise

Older people who exercise regularly find it easier to sleep, sleep longer, and report a better quality.

2. Reduce distractions

Televisions, smartphones, and bright lights can make it more challenging to fall asleep. Move electronics out of the bedroom and resist the temptation to check your phone every time you open your eyes at night.

3. Avoid tobacco and drinks at night

Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and even large meals late in the day can make sleep more challenging. Reduce caffeine and alcohol intake and eating dinner at least four hours before bedtime.

4. Stick to a sleep schedule

Avoid sudden changes in sleep schedules. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and be careful about napping too long or too close to bedtime.

5. Develop a bedtime routine

Find activities that help you relax before bed. Many older people enjoy taking a warm bath, reading, or meditating before getting into bed.

Conclusion

Aging and sleep, and brain health are intrinsically linked in a complex web of interactions. As we journey through the stages of life, it's essential to recognize the significance of sleep in maintaining cognitive vitality.

Being older doesn’t mean you have to be sleepless. There are a lot of things that can help you get a good night’s sleep.

Embracing healthy sleep practices, staying physically and mentally active, and seeking professional guidance when needed are pivotal steps in nurturing brain health as we age. By prioritizing sleep and adopting strategies to support it, we can pave the way for a fulfilling, vibrant, and cognitively enriching life journey.