The study’s lead author, Dr. Rebecca Robbins of Brigham’s Sleep and Circadian Disorders Division, said in a telephone interview that “sleep and health are intrinsically linked” and that human sleep systems increase at age 30 and 40 , but then they start to refuse.
Strategies to improve sleep, she said, include avoiding naps during the day so that sleep comes in a consolidated block at night; reserve beds just for sleeping, unlike other activities like reading or watching television; and get exposure to natural light during the day.
Limiting or avoiding caffeine, the “most widely used drug in the world,” is also helpful, said Robbins, since each dose gives a person five to six hours of energy. People with sleep problems, she said, may want to replace caffeinated drinks with others they like to drink, such as sparkling water.
Robbins and his team used data collected from older adults participating in the National Health and Aging Trends Study, which focuses on Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and over. Survey data from participants was collected every year since 2011.
According to Brigham, 2,610 participants responded to sleep questionnaires in 2013 and 2014, and the researchers examined responses to sleep disorders and disabilities, including responses about alertness, frequency of naps, how long it took people to fall asleep, sleep quality, sleep duration and snoring.
They also collected information about patient outcomes, such as dementia and death from any cause, for up to five years after the research, according to the statement.
Overall, the statement said, the research team found a strong relationship between sleep disorders and disability and dementia over time.
Taking half an hour or more to fall asleep routinely was associated with a 45 percent higher likelihood of dementia, the statement said.
And routinely having trouble staying alert, napping frequently, reporting poor sleep quality and sleeping five hours or less a night was also associated with an increased risk of death, according to the statement.
“This prospective study reveals that sleep deficiency at the start of the study, when the average age of participants was 76, was associated with twice the risk of dementia and all-cause mortality in the next four to five years,” The study’s senior author, Dr. Charles Czeisler, head of Brigham’s Sleep and Circadian Disorders Division, said in the statement.
Czeisler said that “the data increase the evidence that sleep is important for brain health and highlight the need for further research on the effectiveness of improving sleep and treating sleep disorders on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mortality”
In addition, the research team is requesting additional analysis of the links between sleep, dementia and death.
“Our study demonstrates that very short sleep durations and poor sleep in the elderly increase the risk of developing dementia and early death,” said study author Dr. Stuart Quan, who also works in Brigham’s sleep disorders division. . “There should be a greater focus on achieving healthy sleep in older adults.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.