COPING WITH CHANGING SLEEP PATTERNS

Most adults do best when they get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each day. Sleep gives your brain a little vacation. During sleep, your brain has time to:

Grow and repair cells.
Form new pathways for learning, remembering, and processing information.
Rebuild your energy for the next day.

When you don't sleep well night after night, you can have what's called sleep deprivation, or sleep debt.

Besides affecting your energy level and your mood, sleep debt affects your body in other ways. For example:

You may feel pain more easily.
Your risk for heart disease is higher.
Your immune system has a harder time-fighting infection.
You may have mood swings.
You may have trouble learning, solving problems, and remembering.

Not getting enough sleep is linked with a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, obesity, and depression. Sleep debt can also cause serious problems like car crashes and work-related accidents.

What can cause sleep problems?

Many things can cause sleep problems, including:

Changes to your sleep schedule.
Stress. Stress can be caused by fear about a single event, such as giving a speech. Or you may have ongoing stress, such as worry about work or school.
Depression, anxiety, and other mental or emotional conditions.
Changes in your sleep habits or surroundings. This includes changes that happen where you sleep, such as noise, light, or sleeping in a different bed. It also includes changes in your sleep pattern, such as having jet lag or working a late shift.
Health problems, such as pain, breathing problems, and restless legs syndrome.
Lack of regular exercise.
Using alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine before bed.

How can you get help for sleep problems?

If you often have trouble sleeping or you feel very tired and find it hard to function during the day, talk with your doctor. Your doctor can check for any health problems that may be affecting your sleep. And let your doctor know about all medicines and natural health products you take. Some may affect your sleep.

A counselor or therapist can help you cope with stress and may offer techniques for falling asleep. There are also steps you can take on your own to manage your stress.

To help you fall asleep, you may need to change your routine before you go to bed. Try limiting caffeine during the day. And avoid using your TV, computer, or smartphone while you are in bed.

Sleep patterns naturally change as you get older. Older adults often have ongoing sleep problems. Compared to younger people, older adults:

Sleep fewer hours and take longer to fall asleep.
Sleep less deeply and wake up more often during the night.
Have more trouble adjusting to changes in sleeping conditions, such as a different bed.
Have changes in their sleep cycle. Older adults spend less time in the most restful stages of sleep.

It's common for older adults to sleep less deeply and for less time than they did earlier in life. But these normal changes in the sleep patterns of older adults don't mean that the sleep they get is enough.

Routine poor-quality sleep caused by health problems, medicine use, and stress from major life changes can lead to chronic sleep problems. This may increase the risk of serious health problems, such as depression, Opens dialog. But few older adults get, or try to get, treatment for sleep problems. If you are an older adult and have trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor about what you can do to improve your sleep.

Tips for better sleep

Here are some tips that may help you sleep more soundly.

Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. Use curtains, blinds, or a sleep mask to block out light. To block out noise, use earplugs, soothing music, or a "white noise" machine.
Create a relaxing bedtime routine. You might want to take a warm shower or bath, or listen to soothing music.
Go to bed at the same time every night. And get up at the same time every morning, even if you feel tired.
Get regular exercise. Figure out what time of day works best for your sleep patterns.
Get outside during daylight hours. Spending time in sunlight helps to reset your body's sleep and wake cycles
Avoid drinking any liquids before going to bed to help prevent waking up often to use the bathroom.
If you can't sleep, get up and do a quiet or boring activity until you feel sleepy.

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