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Over half of all over 65 year olds have problems sleeping. In our final Sleep Watch film, Michael Mosley met Beth - she regularly finds herself waking up at about 1-2 in the morning and can't get back to sleep.
Michael and Beth went to see Professor Dijk at the University of Surrey sleep lab.
Prof Dijjk explains that we have more deep sleep when we are young and this deep sleep declines rather dramatically as we get older. By the age of 75 many people are getting none of this restorative deep sleep at all.
The results of the test that Beth took indicated that she is alert. Despite this lack of sleep, she's not extremely sleepy. This is something that mirrors Prof Dijk's research - that healthy older people are very alert during the day and in fact they are less sleepy than the younger individuals,
Although Beth may be getting less sleep than when she was younger, in fact people her age don't need as much, which may be why she keeps waking up in the middle of the night.
The problem seems to be not that Beth is not getting enough sleep, but that she is in bed for too long. When you're in your 60s or 70s trying to get eight hours of sleep maybe not be the wise thing to do as you may only need seven.
To check whether lack of sleep is affecting your alertness take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale Test.
A normal score is less than 7, 8-14 is mild daytime sleepiness, whilst 14-20 is moderate to severe and 21 is the maximum. If you have a level of 20/21 it is very dangerous to drive.
Click here to see all of the One Show Sleep Watch films.
Comments
Sleep
Right, so we’ve established older people need only 6/7 hours sleep.
At 73 and 72 respectively, we are alert and reasonably active during the day.
By 9 in the evening we are exhausted and falling asleep in front of the TV.
We have to go to bed and sleep, fitfully, waking in the early hours of the morning.
So, what do we do now? How do we re-set our body clock? Help!
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During a fairly stressful period of my life I began to find that even if I was getting 7 or 8 hours sleet I was waking up tense and unrested. Often I would awake withheadaches and would find that my jaw was tightly clenched.
Talking to a friend I found that he had the same problem and his wife had told him that during the night he would often grind his teeth. He did some research and found he was suffering from Bruxism. Apparently this is a fairly common problem particularly when people are stressed and can sometimes be quite severe and cause all sorts of other problems with teeth and jaw joints.
When my friend discussed this with his dentist he was reccommended a custom made night guard which would cost several hundred pounds and a few sessions in the chair to produce so he decided against that option. However he did find an alternative solution by visiting www.teethgrinding.co.uk and www.nobrux.co.uk.
He found an adjustable night guard that worked really well for him and over a number of weeks it has helped to alleviate this bad habit so that he no longer grinds his teeth at night. I have just purchased one for myself and have found it to be quite comfortable, if a little weird getting used to it, and it has stopped me waking up with my teeth clenched, at least when I remember to wear it.
I wonder if anybody else has had similar experiences they would like to share.
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its not age thats the problem with not getting enough sleep but whats on your mind when you go to bed.recently my hubby was laid off his job as a plasterer and because i worried and still do about money and how we are going to manage,i dont sleep as well as i did before he lost his job.someone told me once to think about clouds before i went to sleep but all i got was money clouds!!! not good. but when we have some good news or something nice happens i go to bed with happy thoughts and fall asleep straight away.bye the way i am a splightly sixty! and still a dinnerlady!
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redstokie: I'm sure you're right - you just cannot get to sleep when your mind is 'buzzing'!
Hope you have good news soon to give you a good night's sleep again.
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About difficulty in getting back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night
One way which works for me (discovered by accident) is to leave the radio on at a very low level, so you can hardly make out any words but there is a continuous sound of talking.
You need to be tuned to a talk station, preferably Radio Four or the World Service. Apart from the persistent sound it provides just enough to prevent your mind running on the problems of the day or tomorrow, a similar effect no doubt to counting sheep.
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have some dried hops in a bag near your pillow......works for me.
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Only just found this! but here goes it's not just the "recycled teenagers" who have sleep problems. I used to work shifts, finish at 10pm one night and start again at 7am. I usually had to be back up and out the house by 5.30am, so every single night was spent waking every hour to check the time.
Of course some days I was 3 earlies in a row or 2 late shifts, after 20 years of this my mother found me unconconcious on my bed, and I was found to be severly anaemic and another hour would have been too late.
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It is not an age thing It is stress and having stuff on your mind I went through a worry situation 3 yrs ago and was waking up at 5am and I was only 29. Now when I go to bed I am falling asleep for ages before but when my head hits the pillow I am wide awake worrying about everyone else's problems and misfortunes who I care about.
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