1/13/2024 0 Comments Acute insomnia causes older adults![]() ![]() 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. 6> The study tracked more than 3,500 older adults participating in the nationally representative Americans’ Changing Lives Study, which surveyed participants five times over 25 years. 5 A University of Michigan team finds disturbed sleep is associated with depression, regardless of the number of chronic medical conditions a participant has. Poor sleep is also related to depression in old age, according to several studies. 4 Sleep Problems Are Often Related to Depression For example, several studies show that insomnia treatments can reduce inflammation markers, offering evidence that sleep problems can be a cause of inflammation. The researchers argue that sleep disturbance and long sleep duration should be viewed as additional risk factors for inflammation that can be modified, like high-fat diets and sedentary lifestyles. Previous research shows that treating insomnia can reduce inflammation. These markers tend to be related to chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. ![]() Specifically, disturbed sleep and too much sleep are associated with the inflammation markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). This body of research-involving 50,000 participants in both clinical settings and the wider population-suggests that sleep disturbances (poor sleep or insomnia complaints) and long sleep duration (sleeping more than eight hours regularly) are related to increases in blood markers of inflammation. Michael Irwin, Richard Olmstead, and Judith Carroll of the University of California, Los Angeles, find further evidence of the effect of sleep on the aging process by analyzing results from 72 distinct studies. The researchers report that these findings “causally link sleep deprivation to the molecular processes associated with biological aging,” suggesting that insufficient sleep may increase the risk of chronic disease by “activating the molecular pathways that drive biological aging.” Researchers monitored their sleep and drew blood daily.Īfter a night partially deprived of sleep, participants’ blood showed signs of deterioration in the cell’s growth and division cycle. Following two uninterrupted nights of sleep, participants were not allowed to sleep between 11 p.m. 3 For the study, 29 older adults between ages 61 and 86 spent four nights in a sleep laboratory. As use of “actigraphy matures, our understanding of how sleep affects health may change,” they write.Ī University of California, Los Angeles team finds that one night of partial sleep deprivation activates genes related to biological aging in older adults. 2 Their study is based on sleep data for more than 700 adults ages 62 to 90 participating in the nationally representative National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). ![]() Diane Lauderdale of the University of Chicago and colleagues find sleeping less than six hours per night is associated with poor or fair health among older people but sleeping longer than average is not linked to any negative health consequences. However, analysis of electronic sleep assessment data-gathered over multiple nights using wrist bands (actigraphy)-offers a more nuanced view. These studies provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and mortality: Regularly sleeping less than five hours daily or more than nine hours raises the risk of death. Most studies on the relationship between sleep duration and health have been based on self-reported time spent asleep. Investigators are looking more deeply into the role of sleep in chronic disease and the aging process. The research examined here underscores the importance of screening for poor sleep and interventions that improve the sleep of older people. While sleep often tends to become more challenging for older people, insomnia-trouble falling asleep and staying asleep-is not a given with old age. This issue of PRB’s Today’s Research on Aging (Issue 38) explores National Institute on Aging-supported research on sleep and aging, reviewing new evidence indicating that poor sleep may be both a sign of ill health and a trigger for processes related to disease and biological aging. Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and InclusionĪ growing body of research indicates that not getting enough sleep may also increase the risk of several conditions and chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.Policy and Advocacy Communications Training.Management of Complex Technical Programs.Distilling Research for Non-Technical Audiences.Adaptive Learning and Knowledge Management.Family Planning, Maternal and Reproductive Health.
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