We are used to thinking that as people get older, more and more people begin to experience difficulty sleeping. However, according to a new scientific study, insomnia makes people age, not the other way around. The study, published in the journal Neuron, presented incontrovertible findings. It turns out that sleep problems do not arise as a result of age-related changes, but as a result of the fact that certain mechanisms in the brain of people change.
Experiments were carried out on mice
The study's lead author Matthew Walker stated that insomnia is a result of the loss of neural connections in the brain. Thus, the main organ stops picking up the body's signals of fatigue. In laboratory experiments in rodents, scientists compared the type and amount of chemical signals triggered during sleep in individuals of different ages. As a result, neurologists found that the chemical signature was the same in all cases (both in young and old mice).
The number of receptors in the brain decreases with age
However, the problem was discovered. It was a gradual decrease in the number of receptors that receive the body's signal of fatigue. The head of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley explained this in a press release: “Our research has shown that an aging brain has the same capabilities as a young one, it just cannot take full advantage of them. It looks like a weak radio antenna. There are signals, but she cannot receive them."
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These findings are changing our understanding of sleep changes
Whereas earlier it was assumed that age inevitably interferes with the quality of sleep, now we have received data of a different nature. Insomnia itself is not a consequence of aging. But problems with sleep can become one of the factors that provoke age-related changes in the body. Scientists have already found causal links between sleep deprivation and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. But when it comes to memory functions, sleep is a problem called "Goldilocks." Both excess nighttime rest and lack of it are not a good idea for your body.
How much sleep do older people need?
The Sleep Foundation states that older people need to sleep seven to nine hours a night, exactly the same as growing teenagers. However, the older generation, as a rule, does not rest during the indicated norm. According to the National Institute on Aging, 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women over 65 are unable to fall asleep for 30 minutes or more. They get up early and often wake up all night.
Problems arise gradually
This failure does not occur suddenly. Lack of sleep intrudes into the lives of modern people closer to 30 years. Gradually, the problems only accumulate, and by the age of 50, the quality of deep sleep deteriorates exactly twice. Unfortunately, by the age of 70, people often cannot do without sleeping pills. However, this does not solve the problem of the lack of deep sleep. It just means that older people don't wake up in the middle of the night.