Sleep Disorders are Common as We Age

Author

Parkview Medical Center

Posted on

Mar 29, 2010

Book/Edition

Colorado - Southern Colorado

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Disordered sleep is common. Chronic insomnia (insomnia for more than 5 nights a week for more than 6 months) affects 14% of the worlds population. Sleep Apnea, the most physiologically disruptive and dangerous of sleep disorders, affects 9% of women and 24% of men. Apnea induces daytime sleepiness in some individuals and leads to a higher frequency of automobile and occupational accidents. High blood pressure is present in 80% of individuals with significant sleep apnea. Heart attacks and strokes sometimes resulting in death are significantly more common in individuals with sleep apnea. New data suggests that sleep apnea is associated with hearth rhythm disturbances and diabetes.
Our sleep does not improve with age. Insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome all become more common as we get older. The only sleep variable that increases for the elderly is time awake in bed.
With ageing, we are more likely to require medications and more likely to suffer side effects from those medications. Daytime sleepiness is perhaps the most common side effect of both prescription and over-the-counter medications. Many medications used to treat insomnia are long-acting and induce next day sleepiness after nighttime use. Such medications include long-acting benzodiazepines like valium, sedating anti-depressants, and over-the-counter sleeping medications with sedating anti-histamines as an active ingredient, such as Benadryl and Tylenol-PM. In seniors, these over-the-counter medications have been shown to induce confusion as well as an increased risk of accidents and falls. They can also be more dangerous than newer prescription medications for sleep.
The safest option for the treatment of insomnia is cognitive-behavioral therapy, an approach available through most sleep physicians that has been shown to have excellent and long-term results. Sleep apnea is best treated with a C-pap system which blows air into the nostrils to hold the airway open during sleep. When tolerated, this treatment has almost no negative side effects. When regularly using C-pap, individuals with sleep apnea live longer and function better.

Editors note: This article was submitted by J.F. Pagel, MD at the Sleep Center of Southern Colorado at Parkview Medical Center. For more information he can be reached at (719) 584-4976

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