How much sleep is enough for the elderly?

Why do the elderly often have insomnia and how to deal with it to be able to recover enough sleep and enough time.

The function of sleep is to help the body recover the organs in the body, just like a car or train after a day of work will need to be repaired to ensure adequate function for the next day. The first organs to rest are the brain and the heart. The heart rate can decrease by up to 30% during deep sleep. Nerve impulses from the periphery to the brain must pass through a reticular organization in the midbrain and sleep makes this system less active or only some areas are in a "wake" state while the majority is resting. In turn, organs such as the digestive, endocrine and skeletal and smooth muscles all rest and the liver is the place to process the body's toxins to help eliminate oxidants, drugs, along with the kidneys to clean the body's system.

Illustration photo.

So why do older people often suffer from poor sleep problems?

Firstly, due to age, the blood vessel system is sclerotic, the heart has to pump a stronger amount of blood, causing the reticular system in the brain to be stimulated, making it difficult to fall asleep. Furthermore, normally the pituitary gland in the brain secretes melatonin, which is a substance that inhibits the reticular system to induce sleep, but in the elderly, melatonin is severely reduced and often lacks about 2-3 mg of this substance, making it very difficult to sleep.

Another question is how much sleep is enough?

We all know that sleep is divided into stages, in which the eye swing reflex has a rapid phase (abbreviated as REM) and a non-rapid phase (abbreviated as Non-REM) forming a cycle of about 90 minutes. In a night, at least 4 cycles (about 6 hours) or 5 cycles (7.5 hours) are enough for adults. The younger the child, the more sleep they need to develop physically. Sleeping a lot plus calcium-rich nutrition are two important factors for children to have height, plus exercise are factors that account for 70% of height. Parents' genetics only account for 30%.

If sleep is not adequate, the advice is to create a good sleep, avoid eating before going to bed, do not exercise 2-3 hours before going to bed. Make sure the bedroom is quiet, low light and go to bed on time. There are some herbal medicines such as passionflower extract, lotus heart, acacia leaves, betel root (rotunda pills) ... that can be used to increase the ability to fall asleep. For the elderly, it is recommended to use additional drugs containing Melatonine from 1-3 mg/pill and take 1 hour before going to bed to solve the problem of poor sleep.

Mr. Le Van Duy - Head of Nursing Department, Dai Nam University