With the increase of age, our body will undergo physiological changes in many aspects, and many elderly friends have various problems in sleep, which is also a common problem affecting the physical health of the elderly and the quality of life in their later years. For the sleep problems of elderly friends, a very common situation is that many elderly friends often wake up at three or four o'clock in the morning, and then it is difficult to fall asleep until dawn, for such a situation, will it endanger the health of the elderly, and how to improve it? Today's popular science article, let's talk to you about the sleep problems of the elderly.
Sleep health is very important for the elderly
With the increase of age, the elderly want to ensure a happy life in their old age, improve the quality of life in their later years, and maintain a good night's sleep, which is a very important aspect. Good sleep will make the various organs of the body get full rest and repair, some bad emotional problems, can also be alleviated through sleep, the body's functions will also be repaired during sleep, maintain good sleep, for maintaining the health of the body, maintain a good mental state, are very important.
Long-term insomnia, sleep disorders, will lead to the body function of the disorder, mood is more likely to fluctuate, and then increase the probability of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health problems, and even induce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular acute events of an important trigger, but also affect the brain function of the elderly, resulting in memory loss, difficulty in concentrating and other issues.
Therefore, if elderly friends want to maintain a healthy state, delay aging, and ensure the quality of life in their later years, it is a very important aspect to be able to "sleep well".
Does the elderly always wake up at three or four o'clock in the morning, will it affect their health?
With the increase of age, the daily life of the elderly will also change, of which in terms of sleep, the most common situation is that there are many elderly friends, always will fall asleep early, and wake up too early, wake up at three or four o'clock in the morning, can no longer sleep. Friends often ask, such a "get up too early" situation, will it affect health?
On this issue, we should still analyze the specific problem, if you sleep very late at night, fall asleep after twelve o'clock, and wake up again at three or four o'clock in the morning, and it is difficult to fall asleep again, and it feels very sleepy during the day, it is difficult to concentrate, and it is easy to be irritable, angry, such sleep, of course, is unhealthy sleep, long-term this may cause a variety of adverse effects on physical health. But if it is an elderly friend who lives a very regular life, the time to fall asleep is relatively early every day, go to bed at seven or eight o'clock at night, can fall asleep quickly, rarely get up at night after falling asleep, sleep until three or four o'clock in the morning, wake up at three or four o'clock in the morning, the next day does not feel tired and weak, the mental state is also very good, such sleep is no problem, or sleep quality, it is not a problem, but also high-quality sleep, and will not have a negative impact on health.
Therefore, to judge whether sleep will affect the standard of health, just look at the number of times to wake up, wake up prematurely, is not a measure, sleep well, the body has been fully rested, the next day mental state is good, not sleepy, such sleep is quality sleep, there is no need to worry too much, and for the elderly friends who have difficulty falling asleep, poor sleep quality, and wake up prematurely, sleep quality is difficult to guarantee, because sleep disorders lead to the body, the probability of psychological health problems is higher, in this case, It is time to actively improve the conditioning.
8 tips to help the elderly improve their sleep quality
On the question of how the elderly can improve the quality of sleep, taking medicine to help sleep is certainly not the best choice, most of the drugs that help sleep have a certain sedative effect, and long-term use will form a certain dependence, the risk of rebound and adverse reactions, as well as the risk of interaction with other drugs, are worth noting, therefore, if it is not particularly necessary, some mild and moderate sleep problems of the elderly should still be improved as much as possible through life conditioning interventions, about this, We give you the following 8 tips, hoping to help elderly friends improve sleep quality.
1. Adjust your own biological clock
Our body's "biological clock" is a very good rhythm clock, and when we develop a biological rhythm in our daily life, the brain becomes accustomed to this chronological order and responds accordingly. Therefore, if in terms of sleep, we can choose a reasonable fixed bedtime, it will help establish this biorhythm, so that the brain and our lights out sleep time are aligned, helping to maintain a good regular sleep. Going to bed at the end of the day and being able to fall asleep quickly are all manifestations of good sleep.
2. The bedroom is specially used for rest
Some friends like to work in the bedroom, or lie down to watch TV, play mobile phones, etc., this habit will make the brain connect rest places with mental activity, thus affecting our sleep.
If we can turn the bedroom into a quiet space with a comfortable bed, remove items and equipment that may affect sleep (including alarm clocks), and use the bedroom for the main purpose of sleep, it will establish a connection between the brain and sleep, and it will also help to improve sleep problems.
3, let yourself be tired
Regular exercise can consume the body's physical strength and energy, and it will also help the body to get a fuller rest when going to bed. If you want to improve the quality of sleep, staying outdoors is a particularly helpful way, and sunlight and fresh air can help your health and will help improve your sleep. However, it should be noted that strenuous exercise should be avoided as much as possible within 3 hours before going to bed, and exercise stimulates adrenaline secretion, making it difficult for people to stay awake and difficult to fall asleep.
4. Avoid sleeping during the day
If you have problems such as difficulty falling asleep at night, sleeping too little, waking up and falling asleep again, if you want to adjust the biological rhythm, you can try to avoid falling asleep during the day, if you really feel sleepy, sleep time should also be controlled at about 20 minutes. If you sleep too much during the day, it may affect the quality of sleep at night, which is really not worth the loss.
5. Pay attention to drinks before going to bed
For elderly friends with sleep disorders, 4 hours before going to bed, we should try to avoid drinking coffee, tea, energy drinks and other drinks, these drinks contain certain excitatory nerve substances, which will further affect sleep, causing difficulty in falling asleep; drinking alcohol to help sleep is also not advisable, alcohol can paralyze the nerves, but it will also reduce the time of deep sleep, even if you drink too much and fall asleep, the same sleep quality will not be high.
Before going to bed, we should also pay attention to avoid drinking a lot of water, especially for elderly friends who have the habit of getting up at night, drinking water may increase the number of nights, further affecting sleep.
6. Pay attention to eating before going to bed
Hunger affects sleep, but being overly full can also affect sleep. A good practice is to eat a sugar-free, spicy dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime, consume it in moderation, and eat seven or eight minutes full. Eating too much will cause indigestion, which in turn interferes with and affects sleep, if you feel a little hungry before going to bed, in order to avoid hunger affecting sleep, you can drink some yogurt, milk or eat some bananas appropriately, so that you can stay in a good state to fall asleep.
7. Be prepared before going to bed
Taking a warm bath before going to bed can help improve the problem of difficulty falling asleep. In addition, all electronic devices should be turned off 2 hours before going to bed, and you can choose to read a book or an e-reader without artificial light to replace the dazzling mobile phone or TV screen, the bright screen will inhibit the secretion of melatonin, which in turn will affect the quality of people's sleep. Therefore, not watching TV and watching mobile phones before going to bed is also an important aspect of improving sleep.
8. What should I do if I can't fall asleep?
If you lie in bed for 20 minutes and are still very awake, there is no feeling of sleeping at all, you may wish to slowly get up, go to another room, do some softer things such as reading, listening to music, etc., do not get up to watch TV or play mobile phones without falling asleep, which will make people more awake, about 20 to 30 minutes later, you can try to go to bed again, if repeated times are ineffective, you should consider choosing a method of medical drug help.
The above 8 points, for the elderly friends to improve sleep disorders, improve sleep quality, if you can actively practice, are very important life conditioning methods, I hope to be able to help the elderly friends with sleep problems, but also welcome everyone to actively forward the comments, let us work together to help, spread reliable health science knowledge.