HJNO Jul/Aug 2021

46 JUL / AUG 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS COLUMN  SENIOR HEALTH IT IS COMMONLY HEARD that older peo- ple need less sleep, either staying up until the wee hours or waking up early in the morning. Yet, it is simply not true. What happens is that as people age, their ability to stay asleep decreases. If a person needed eight hours of sleep at 30, he still needs that much at 70. But roughly half of older adults report prob- lems with insomnia, according to the American Psychological Association. Sleep troubles have been linked to many health problems such as cardiovascular issues and depression. For many older adults, a good night’s sleep is just difficult to achieve. As we get older, the quality of the sleep we get decreases. In our 50s, our ability to produce melatonin, a powerful sleep hor- mone, may begin to slow. And, our circa- dian clock, the internal meter that tells us when to go to bed and when to get up, of- ten shifts earlier when we age, sending us to bed in the early evening and awakening us in the early hours, whether we want to get up at that time or not. Many age-related health problems and the medications taken to treat them also make it harder to get quality sleep. An en- larged prostate may send you to the bath- room all night long. Sleep apnea, for which people are at higher risk of at age 40 and older, disrupts slumber. Chronic pain, too, may make it difficult to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. And eye conditions like macular degeneration can affect the circadian rhythm. A New Connection to Dementia A newly published study has found that people who regularly slept six hours or less a night in their 50s, 60s and 70s were Are You Getting the Zzz’s You Need? A good night’s rest could reduce your risk for cognitive complications down the road.