Changing of Rhythms - Sleep as we Age

DiscoverZzz's "Sleep Walk" series, starting May 2nd

Launch of DiscoverZzz's "Sleep Walk" series, starting May 2nd and open to all adults interested in sleep health. This article brings recognition to sleep challenge at all stages of life and encourages anyone, whether in a senior age group or not to consider joining the walk.

Changing of Rhythms - Sleep as we Age

Aging - perhaps the most natural part of life shared among all living things. It’s beautiful - to step back and see the timeless wisdom in the process, in our grandparents, in our neighbors, in the seniors in our community. And as we reflect back on life, however long it’s been for us so far, we can see just how quickly our bodies change; sometimes filled with resiliency and sometimes with fragility, the quality of our days often a product of our body’s ability to move, to socialize, to find gratitude, and to sleep.

Just as our height, weight, interests, and overall health fluctuate, as does how we experience sleep. In fact - how much sleep we need changes over time, starting with 14-17 hours per day as a newborn, 9-11 as a school-age child, 7-9 as an adult, and 7-8 as an older adult. While controversial among sleep scientists whether seniors really need less sleep, this fact goes unchanged: as we age, finding quality sleep becomes harder.

What, you may ask, happens as we age that causes quality sleep to be less of a given? The simple answer is.. a lot. ​

As we age, melatonin levels naturally drop. While melatonin doesn’t predict the presence of sleep or “force sleep”, it is a regulator of the sleep-wake cycle. With less of it, that rhythm can become blunted.

With that drop we may experience more fragmented sleep and nighttime awakenings, which contributes to daytime sleepiness, which can encourage more napping - then also blunting our drive to sleep at night.
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As we age we may have more free time, allowing us the opportunity to sleep more hours, when our body doesn’t always need it. This can make it harder to fall asleep at night when we want to. Or, we may spend some of that extra free time being sedentary and exposed to screens (yes, you guessed it, aiding in the blunting of our sleep/wake rhythms).

And - what, then, can we do about it?

• Keep naps early and short. If someone is waking from a nap feeling groggy, that’s a sign they entered deep sleep and their nap was too long to actually benefit their daytime energy
• Encourage movement. Exercise helps most things (we know this), and that includes sleep. Exercising in the morning - especially outside - can help boost cortisol early and suppress melatonin at the right time, increasing daytime alertness and improving nighttime sleep. 
• Watch out for shifting hormones and signs of advanced sleep-wake phase disorder, where melatonin production naturally shifts earlier. While some shift is normal, for some this significantly impacts the schedule they want to keep.
• Be aware of how medication side effects impact ability to fall asleep and how they impact sleep architecture, especially if taken in the evening hours. In other words, be aware if medication suppresses deep or REM sleep. Many do - and it’s not something that gets talked about often.

DiscoverZzz brings this information to older adults and pairs it with their lived experience. Together, in addition to looking at the entirety of someone’s daytime and nighttime patterns & belief systems, we identify if any of the reasons here in this article are contributing to their sleep challenge.

This, you may be surprised to hear, is often the easy part. The more difficult step is understanding how to approach lifestyle change in a way that works for them - a slow, methodical, step by step process that brings more consistency, quality, and confidence to their sleep in the long-term. Committing to lifestyle change as we age, particularly after settling into our habits is hard. It’s hard for anyone. The partnership of a coach helps you step outside of the habits you’ve lived for many years and begin to see new possibilities.

If you’re someone who wants to see a change in your sleep but you’re not sure how to get there, consider this: Identify what change will have the biggest impact, and then identify the first step. That’s all - one change, one step. And remember, you’re not alone. If having a small community to join monthly sounds like a supportive step, consider attending DiscoverZzz’s first “Sleep Walk” on May 2nd at 2PM in Olcott Park. This is a group open to any adult facing a sleep challenge or looking for a sleep health-oriented community. We celebrate wins, recognize challenges, and honor the changing of rhythms. 

DiscoverZzz Sleep Coaching is available for 1:1 coaching, workshop-style sleep education, and custom coaching. Learn more at DiscoverZzz.com.