REM

 

It can relax you, it can put spring in your step, but how do you get it.

Sleep is the elixir of life. It gives one the energy to face the rough and rigours of the new sunrise. But for one who has faced many a travails of life, lack of sleep or reduced sleep is always a sense of bother. If one does not feel refreshed on wa king, which is likely in the elderly, it means that the quality of sleep is affected. But the elderly go through many a physical and mental states that influence sleep and need to be looked into.

As such, sleep is in five phases, of which the first four are the non-rapid eye movements and the fifth phase is the delta or the rapid eye movement sleep which is the most enriching. Even as younger people reach the fifth phase in a hurry it is not so with the elderly as they have to toss and turn in bed to gain that phase. It is also a phase when dreaming is predominant. It is not that the older generation requires lesser amount of sleep but the seven to nine hours required is not attained and they feel irritable which further aggravate their problem with attention and memory leaving them drowsy during the day.

Men in their late fifties and into the sixties usually suffer from enlargement of the prostate which comes in the way of complete evacuation of the urinary bladder and thereby they need to wake up about two to three times at night to empty the bladder and promptly their sleep is affected. Older women find that they have an urge for urination with urgency and find incontinence an issue. There is also a condition called sleep apnoea in which just as one is about to enter into a deep sleep they get disturbed with jerk and find difficulty in going to bed again. Respiratory issues like cough and breathlessness are worse at night and during supine position and wake one from sleep. Restless leg syndrome is a condition in which there is periodic movement of the legs compelling one to move around causing daytime fatigue and discomfort in the legs. Increased sensitivity to noise, emotional and physical pain, usage of certain medicines affecting sleep, heartburn, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, parkinsonism are few changes which can influence sleep patterns.

A stroll in the evening for about twenty minutes would help miles in helping one in falling asleep without much tossing and turning. Exposure to sunlight is also helpful as melatonin is secreted better and helps one sleep better. Avoiding beverages late in the evening would stimulate the brain lesser. Alcohol will only help in falling asleep faster but only to wake them in the later part of the night which is even worse.

It is also a fact that older people feel tired later in the day and feel sleepy and it would make sense to go to bed when in such a mood and it does not matter if one wakes up a little early as the average seven to eight hours is achieved. Meanwhile, a nap taken during the day should not be more than thirty minutes duration as it can interfere with sleep patterns. Meanwhile homoeopathic medicines have good remedies like Natrum phos which can reduce heartburn, Carbo veg which can tackle cough and breathlessness and reduce the effect on sleep. If the sleep is disturbed due to conditions like apnoea, Opium helps and if it is restless legs syndrome where the insomnia is caused by the pain in the lower limbs, Arnica, Ferrum met are useful. Ailments like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s when treated with complementary medicine, sleep improves. At the end of it all a simple change of mattress too could help!