Thursday, February 17, 2011

HOW YOU SLEEP DEPENDS ON YOUR AGE

HOW YOU SLEEP DEPENDS ON YOUR AGE

from "Sleep Like a Baby at Any Age"
By Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Special to Lifescript
Published December 23, 2010

When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Last year – or last decade? No matter your age, many things can keep you up: kids, deadlines, work worries. Read on for the worst sleep stealers at different life stages – and how to cope with them...

Once we leave childhood, satisfying sleep is often harder to come by.

The average 30- to 60-year-old woman sleeps fewer than seven hours a night, says the National Sleep Foundation. Women are also more likely than men to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

We’re simply not getting enough zzz’s, says Andrew Martin, M.D., director of the Institute for Sleep Medicine at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, N.J. “[People] need about eight hours a night,” he says.

Without it, our health takes a nosedive: Less sleep may increase your risk of high blood pressure, according to a 2009 study at the University of Chicago. With every hour of lost sleep, risk rose 37%.

Poor sleep also increases your chance of heart disease, cancer and obesity, says Svetlana Kogan, M.D., founder of Doctors at Trump Place, a complementary medicine practice in New York City.

Sleep-deprived people have suppressed immune systems, she says. That means they’re more likely to get bacterial and viral infections, and be depressed.

What’s the answer? Figuring out what’s robbing your sleep at different ages, and facing each one pillow first.

MY THOUGHTS

men seem to fall asleep much faster than us women.  now that we've confirmed that, we should look at different sleep patterns, depending on our age.

my next posts will deal with sleep for women in the following ages:

In Your 30s

In Your 40s

In Your 50s and Beyond (beyond?  how did this sound to you?)


No comments:

Post a Comment