Age-Related Changes. The previously discussed models and hypotheses are important in understanding the foundation of sleep disturbances and the multifactorial nature of insomnia. However, it is imperative to also acknowledge the age-related changes that effect sleep architecture and sleep patterns in older adults. The medical field has defined individuals over the age of 65 as elderly, and those over the age of 75 as geriatric. Many changes involving how sleep is initiated and maintained occur throughout the lifespan. Subjective inquiries reveal that older adults on average report spending more time in bed, but less time sleeping, waking more often throughout the night, earlier wake times, more frequent napping, and taking longer to …show more content…
Implications
Combined, the foundational models and hypotheses of insomnia along with the age-related changes in sleep architecture contribute to the understanding of the consequences and implications chronic insomnia in older adults. While sleep disturbances in older adults are often considered a normal part of aging, there are associated with reduced quality of life, increased healthcare utilization, institutionalization, as well as a risk factor for poor mental and physical health (Galimi, 2010; Krishnan & Hawranlik, 2008). Insomnia in older adults can lead to disruptions of sleep in their caregivers, resulting in the decision of institutionalization of an elder. Furthermore, chronic insomnia can precipitate psychological distress and is associated with difficulties in attention, slower response times, diminished cognitive abilities, daytime sleepiness, and impaired memory (Hildalgo et al., 2007). These factors combined can increase the risk of falls, fractures, and driving accidents in the older adult. Insomnia as a risk factor for falls serves as a strong predictor of long-term care placement (Hill, et al., 2007).
Physical and psychological health implications of chronic insomnia in the older adult contribute to a decreased quality of life. There is substantial evidence that suggests insomnia is an independent risk factor for the onset and maintenance of major depression disorder (Pigeon & Perlis, 2007). Depression and
PSQI, a 19-item tool, assessed self-rated sleep quality measures over the prior month, and with a score of 5 or greater associated with poor sleep. ESS, an 8-item self-rated questionnaire, evaluated the impact of subjective perceived sleepiness on daily functioning in eight different environments with a score of 9 or greater being associated with a burden of day-time sleepiness. ISI, a 7-item tool, identified the presence, rated the severity and described the impact of insomnia with a score of 10 or greater identified as positive for
Sleep is important not only for promoting healing, but also for the overall well-being of the individual. When there are problems with the sleeping pattern, it impacts the overall health and safety of the older adult. The person will not have enough rest and will be too tired to perform activities surrounding daily living. We have to assess the risk factors contributing to the problems of sleep disturbance and these might be “related to poor sleep hygiene, including an irregular sleep schedule, environmental noise or light, and the use of stimulants” (Mauk, 2014, p. 581). If the sleeping pattern is not assessed, possible complications will happen, such as falls that could lead to bodily injuries.
Martha is a 65 year old lady who suffers from insomnia based on the preliminary symptoms of sleeplessness. She is also under severe stress from her mum’s dependence condition which makes her unhappy with her retirement. Martha’s mum’s condition is of great influence to her insomnia disorder for she only thinks of her through out the day, caring for her leaving Martha with little time to check on her health. Insomnia is a disorder that mostly affects the elderly though it may affect people from all ages. It is the lack of sleep even when one feels to have some sleep. It is not a stand alone disease but a symptom which is defined by the duration one lacks quality sleep. Transient insomnia is not having sleep for a week, short term insomnia is lack of adequate sleep for 2-3 weeks, while sleeplessness for a month is termed as chronic insomnia. Various studies have shown that insomnia affects women more often than men and that 30%-50% of elderly Americans experience difficulty in initiating and maintaining adequate sleep. Diagnosing insomnia in a patient the health practitioner would evaluate the patient medical record and other factors that may contribute to insomnia. For example, snoring, psychological factors such as stress levels and drug use. Martha’s physician would check on her medical
Sleep disturbance among the older adult population is known to be a prevalent issue (Gooneratne, Pack, Staley, Schutte-Rodin, Dinges, & Pack, 2011). Much study has
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It can have a devastating impact on one’s emotion, physical, occupation and social life. While it occasionally can be seen in the clinical setting as a primary diagnosis, it most often presents as a comorbidity to a medical or psychiatric issue;
However compared to the other development groups of life the adulthood stage was the period in which adults only needed seven to nine hours of sleep. Sleeping disorders are common for adults. Adult with issues to sleep are no benefiting enough as people who do since it improves their neurocognitive functions. A study was done to compare the sleep architecture of young and older adults. The study viewed the emphasis on REM and sleep spindle density. Another objective studied in this experiment
Sleep is a vital component to sustaining life in humans. Even though everyone participates in sleeping, many individuals do not understand the true significance of sleeping, and what benefits and consequences come with too much or too little sleep. Sleep comes in different stages throughout the period of rest, with some stages being more important than others. By interrupting various stages, different types of problems can arise from which stage is being affected. In particular, elder adults are affected in larger numbers to a more extensive depth of issues. “However, aging does not mean elders should encounter sleep disorders; it merely increases the possibility that more elders will seek help to manage the problem” (Song, Hollenbeck, Blair, Schatzkin, Chen. 2012. p.316) By understanding possible causes for sleep disorders, what kinds of physiological effects this has on the aged anatomy, and the types of problems that appear in the psychological aspect, it becomes achievable to begin working towards reversing complications and promoting elder sleep health.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of insomnia severity on wellbeing, quality of life, and healthcare costs.
The research article Poor sleep quality is associated with increased cortical atrophy in community-dwelling adults is a correlational study that concluded there was a correlation between longitudinal measures of cortical atrophy and lack of sleep quality. The hypothesis of the researchers was that atrophy within the orbitofrontal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex would be associated with poor sleep quality. These researchers also hypothesized that the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices may also be affected by poor sleep quality, which would reflect the many cognitive deficits that are brought about by lack of quality sleep.
The Psychology and Health journal focuses on the approaches to health and illness and contains topics such as physical illness, treatment processes and recovery; psychosocial factors, health attitudes and behavior, the individual health care system interface. The journal publishes original research, accepts meta-analyses work and presents psychological methods and efforts in health-related fields. The objective of the study Subjective age and sleep in middle-aged and older adults was to assess chronological age and how it is used to explain changes in sleep.
Mental health and sleep are closely connected. Insomnia is the most commonly reported mental health complaint in the United States. Mental health problems can affect the amount of sleep, the type, and the time spent in various sleep phases. People who suffer from depression may experience sleep disturbances which disrupt the process of falling and staying asleep. Approximately 15-40% of people with depression oversleep, which is possibly worsened by some
The topic that I read is sleep. I read about people who get older don't sleep enough due to their busy schedule. There's a higher chance of people getting insomnia and other symptoms. Adults older than 65 have a difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep. I learned that there are two types of insomnia: primary insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea. Primary insomnia happens while you are sleeping and obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder, an example can be snoring while your asleep. To fall asleep, it's recommended to read a book for 20 minutes and by that time you will be
The design of the study was a correlation base study among different age groups, explored effect, and efficiency, latency, and assessed sleep duration. The researcher viewed and measured the participant's PSQI and MRI scans by an average of 3.5 years. The outcome of the research showed that poor sleep quality was associated with an increase of atrophy in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, and reduced volume in the right upper frontal region. Correlations for the age of 60 and above, could not be explained by any of the variation in BMI, blood pressure, physical activity, and were linked to decrease in sleep efficiency. With the graphs and tables of the research, from the data, we can conclude that the measure of the atrophy was widely correlated with sleep quality. The conclusion for this article was largely driven by correlations from elderly age adults, could not be explained by characteristics that are being
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder which makes falling asleep very hard, or cause you to stay up or wake up, or make you unable to get back to sleep. In addition, insomnia can deplete your energy and reduce disturb your mood. Moreover, it can spoil your work performance, health, and quality of life. Also, you may still suffer feeling tired and ruin your temper. when you wake up.
The Relationship Between Sleep and Anxiety in Older Adults showed that anxiety and insomnia are common problems adults deal with. Less research has been conducted assessing the co-occurrence of the two variables in older adults compared with younger adults, but it is estimated that 45% of older adults with an anxiety disorder have comorbid sleep problems.