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Ageing and Sleep


As much as we might try we can’t remove sleep from our daily lives. We try to squeeze it, skip it and reorganise it but in the end it is still there and it WILL be heard! I guess it makes sense that most of us don’t care too much about sleep given that we are asleep when it happens. We don’t build great life memories from when we are asleep and very few great moments in our lives happen when we are asleep. And yet without sleep we will fail. We will fail at work, at home, on the sports field and in our relationships. 

And our health with fail too. There are so many good things that happen to us when we sleep well. Our bodies rebuild and repair. Our minds clear and re-set. Our armies of immune system cells regroup and prepare to take on all comers. And if we don’t get enough sleep we even try to trick ourselves and our bodies that we actually did. We drink loads of caffeine rich drinks and we munch on high sugar snacks. And we tell ourselves that we are ‘fine’ on 4 hours sleep a night. But we are not really fooling anyone, least of all ourselves. Our faces are the first give-away. Those puffy faces and eyes, those dark circles, that tired, limp looking skin. You know what I’m talking about.

Now I’m not passing judgment here. Many of us wish we could get more sleep. Sometimes it’s just not the easy. Our modern lives are busy. We do have lots to do and finding time to cram it all into a day is hard. Even if we can get into bed at the right time that is no guarantee of a good night’s sleep. Talk to any insomniac and they’ll set you straight on this point. No, there are many sleep issues, problems and challenges that millions of people face everyday. The best we can do is to be aware of the importance of sleep and do the best we can to get the most we can.        

So let’s talk specifically about Ageing and Sleep. Does sleep affect your ageing? In a word, YES! Let me put a couple of things in bold for us all to remember:

- if you sleep well REGULARLY you give your body the best opportunity and environment to repair itself. That is internally and externally.

- If your sleep poorly REGULARLY you are depriving your body the opportunity to repair itself. Like driving your car day after day but never giving it a proper service. OK, you put fuel in it but you never change the oil, never check the tires or never replace any of the filters or seals. Without regular servicing in time it will stop!

Ask yourself this. if there were two identical cars for sale, one serviced regularly over the past 10 years and the other never serviced, which would you buy?

The next step is an easy one to take. If you are not servicing your body you are letting ageing run free and unchecked. So the 10 year old car that has been well serviced not only works better, it looks newer and better too! So it is fair to say therefore that good sleep also makes us look more attractive. Looking for some science to back this up? Well here’s some details I have summarised from various online sources: 

  • The process ‘catabolyis’ occurs when you sleep. Catabolyis is a biological process that occurs naturally during periods of sleep. It helps your skin cells rid themselves of internal debris that can cause damage at a cell level. If you don’t allow this process to occur your skin is poorly repaired from the previous day’s exposure to sun, wind and other environmental influences. It becomes much weaker at retaining moisture and oils on it’s next exposure, leading to dry, patchy skin. This skin in turn is not well protected from the next round of exposure. Another poor night’s sleep and the problems compound.
  • Dry, dull skin looks tired and older! We are talking about fine lines, uneven pigmentation, reduced elasticity and slower recovery time form exposures such as wind and sun.
  • So what do we do? We put on products and make-up. We ‘cover-up’ the truth. But the truth is still there, hidden underneath. Now doesn’t getting a good night’s sleep sound so much better?
  • In addition, immune system proteins called cytokines are released during sleep. We need Cytokines to help fight infections, inflammation and stress. Poor sleep can lead to reduced Cytokine count’s which in turn can reduce our bodies ability to fight back making us more susceptible and less responsive to illness. Do we look fresh and attractive when we are unwell? We do not! 

 

Sleep Patterns & Ageing

It’ a common misconception that as you get older you need less and less sleep. Not true really. We always need sleep but as we age the times and occasions we sleep may change and our lifestyles may have a big impact on the amount of sleep we actually get, but our bodies need roughly the same amount of sleep. If we all slept as much as we did when we were kids we’d be reaping the benefits every day. 

What does tend to change is the relative amount of light sleep (REM sleep) versus deep sleep we get. In simple terms younger people tend to get more ‘deep’ sleep which is most restful and repairing. We tend to swap deep sleep for light sleep as we age. Ever heard the saying ’sleeping like a baby”. It makes sense really….babies and the young are often so deep asleep it can be difficult to wake them. This is rare with adults unfortunately (I know I wish I could sleep deeply more often). We all go through sleep cycles during a night’s sleep where we move from light to deep sleep - older people spending more time in the lighter stages.

Older people can also have their sleep interrupted by medical or phycological conditions which are less likely to occur in children, further impacting on the amount of quality deep sleep obtained. This includes but is not limited to insomnia, sleep apnea, sleep phase syndrome, hypertension, restless leg syndrome, diabetes, gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), Parkingson’s disease and MS. 

So in summary, if you want to look young and beautiful then GET PLENTY OF GOOD SLEEP! 

 

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