6 tips from an expert for sleeping well as you age

Insomnia, waking up at night, difficulty falling asleep, sleep apnea, shorter nights… Very often, as we age, many of us suffer from sleeping troubles. A large number of people over 50 or 60 can confirm this: the older we get, the worse we sleep. But why ? How can we explain this decline in the quality (and quantity) of sleep? And, above all, how can we improve our nights? Éric Joannes, sophrologist specializing in sleep for the elderly, answers us.

According to him, first of all, we should not make generalizations: the arrival (or worsening) of sleep problems as we age is not universal. “This is due to a physiological, and not pathological, evolution, which does not concern everyone”, assures the expert. But it is true, he concedes, that a “sleep disturbance may be noted” in many people over the age of 50. “The average duration of sleep is decreasing a little”, he specifies. From 7 to 9 hours on average for an adult under 50, the nights then pass to around 7.5 hours of sleep.

Why do we sleep less well as we age?

According to Éric Joannes, the possible loss of sleep as we age is a question of physiology. “The need for recovery is less. It is therefore normal to sleep less”, he indicates. The evolution of the nervous system also plays a role. “As we age, we have fewer neurons and less white matter, so this can impact sleep”he explains. “But it’s natural, it doesn’t matter”.

But how do these physiological and neurological changes actually affect sleep? “There is a real disorganization of sleep cycles,” replies the specialist. A cycle lasts on average 90 minutes and count 5 phases “which correspond to the frequencies emitted by the brain” :

• Phase 1: slow, very light sleep (falling asleep phase)
• Phase 2: slow, light sleep (sleep becomes deeper and deeper, but it is still possible and easy to be awakened)
• Phase 3: slow, deep sleep (we sleep deeply, the body no longer moves)
• Phase 4: slow, very deep sleep (recovery phase)
• Phase 5: paradoxical sleep (we sleep but the brain activity is close to that of the waking phase, it is the sleep of dreams)

Disturbed sleep cycles

Generally, during a cycle, we go through all these phases in one direction then the other. But with age, “we go less and less into the deepest phases of sleep. Some people no longer even go into phase 4”reveals Éric Joannes. “Sleep becomes lighter and more and more intra-sleep awakenings appear”.

A night is a succession of cycles (between 4 and 6 on average). “Most of the time, you can wake up at the end of a cycle”, says the sophrologist. But older people will wake up much more often. “As they descend less deeply into sleep, they will come back up more easily”he details, evoking sleep “very fragmented and uncomfortable”. Furthermore, the time it takes to fall asleep will lengthen. “We go from 15 to 20 minutes to 45 minutes on average”he reveals.

How to improve your sleep after 50?

Before wanting to improve your sleep at all costs, “you have to know how you live it”suggests the expert. “It’s not inevitable”. If people are experiencing it badly and feel that it is impacting their daily life and their mental health, then they must start by “understand where their problem lies”. It is often linked “to rumination and clutter of the mind”he notes.

here are the 6 tips by Éric Joannes to sleep better after 50:

• Go to bed later (so as not to wake up too early and sleep in more)
• Avoid taking naps that are too long (avoid 1h30 naps and favor those of 20 to 25 minutes maximum in the early afternoon so that this does not count against the night’s time)
• Expose yourself to the light of day (leave the house, take a walk, or at least go to the window and not spend your day on the sofa or in front of the television)

• Do some exercises and activities (walking, gardening, group games, etc. In addition to tiring, it creates social bonds)
• Implement falling asleep rituals based on meditation, concentration, visualization, breathing exercises, etc. (this is registered in the brain as preceding the sleep phase and therefore promotes the logic of falling asleep)
• Relax by switching off the mind using breathing squared (a phase of inspiration, holding lungs full, expiation, holding lungs empty then we start again), active abdominal breathing (breathing with the stomach) or calming breathing (visualizing images of calm).

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Rights of women and children, violence, feminism, gender, discrimination, parenthood, education, psychology, health, couple, sexuality, social networks…. Joséphine loves deciphering all the social issues that drive our world…