One of the most precious things in life is a great night’s sleep. I love learning the benefits of sleep just so I can justify going to bed instead of paying bills, taking out the trash or fill in the blank with whatever chore you want. Sleep is way more important than all these things.
A few recent studies have linked sleep deficiency with dementia and mortality. The most recent study was conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Researchers watched a sample of more than 2,800 patients for five or more years. Every patient was at least 65 years old and the average age was 77 years old. The patients were assessed for other health problems, and, scarily, the most common chronic illnesses seen in this group were depression and cancer.
The patients filled out surveys during the course of the study to report how many hours of sleep they got a night, how long it usually took to fall asleep, whether or not sleep felt restful, if they snored, napped and if they had problems staying alert. The researchers watched the patients to see who developed dementia and who died (from any cause).
People who reported sleeping less than five hours a night were nearly 2.4 times more likely to die during that five-year period than people who slept seven to eight hours a night. The study also confirmed the finding that sleeping more than nine hours a night was associated with increased mortality, just not to the extent of having a short night of sleep.
Surprisingly, people who napped daily also had significantly higher mortality — about 1.75 times more likely to die. People who rated their sleep quality as poor suffered the same risk as the daily nappers and people who had difficulty maintaining alertness through the day shared almost the same risk. Those might be the most scariest statistics, people who subjectively feel like they get poor sleep or have a hard time maintaining alertness through the day are at a significantly higher risk of death than people who feel well-rested.
Now, maybe in an age group that is mostly retired that means something more than those of us who feel chronically overworked and under-slept.
The five hours or less sleepers also had more than a two-fold incidence of dementia. Other studies have shown a link between sleeping more than nine hours is associated with an increase in dementia.
For the people who don’t get a good night sleep, you might think that taking sleeping pills is a possible solution. However, another study in 2019 showed that long-term frequent users of sleeping pills had an increased risk of dementia, just not to the severity of those who sleep less than five hours a night. One could say they help, but just not to the degree of getting a normal night’s rest without them.
One of the more common causes of lousy sleep is sleep apnea. This is usually hallmarked by loud snoring and pauses in breathing while asleep. During these pauses, the level of oxygen in the blood can drop below normal. Sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure and obesity. The weight gain is a vicious circle as poor sleep makes it hard to exercise and excess weight pushes up toward the lungs when laying down, making it harder for the lungs to inflate. The increased negative air pressure needed to pull air into the lungs and push the fat out of the way causes everything loose in the back of the throat to collapse (like the soft palate and the tongue). This loose tissue vibrates noisily (snoring) and sometimes completely obstructs the airway.
When the blood oxygen level drops, the person wakes out of the deeper stages of sleep so that they open their airway, even though they are not awake enough to remember the event. Witnesses are usually disturbed by such a sleep pattern.
For many people, losing weight can improve apnea. Alternatively, many people sleep with a mask on that delivers pressurized air to keep the airway open and make it easier to inhale. As strange as it sounds to sleep with a mask on, many patients after initial use report it is the best night of sleep they have had in years.
Whereas many people think sleep gets in the way of all the things they want to do, it is time to have the perspective that sleep is a critical part of your health. As for getting out of doing chores, they might be the best thing for you.
Rather than relying on sleep aids, simply working and exercising to the point of tiredness can help guarantee a good night sleep.
Dr. Salvatore Iaquinta is a head and neck surgeon at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael and the author of “The Year They Tried To Kill Me.” He takes you on the Highway to Health every fourth Monday.
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March 01, 2021 at 03:02AM
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Why sleep really matters for your health - Marin Independent Journal
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