Boredom, depression, chronic pain and/or nutritional deficiencies can be some of the underlying causes that account for excessive daytime sleeping. Medications can also be a problem.
Around 20% of older people experience excessive daytime sleepiness, which may be a sign of an underlying health condition rather than merely old age. Excessive daytime sleepiness in older adults may be a symptom of health issues like sleep apnea, cognitive impairment, or cardiovascular issues.
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night. But, older people tend to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier than they did when they were younger. There are many reasons why older people may not get enough sleep at night.
Providing the person doesn't appear to be uncomfortable or distressed, then sleeping more during the day isn't normally a reason to be worried. However, if a person is lying down in bed and asleep for most of the time they will need to be looked after to make sure they don't develop any physical health problems.
The Causes of Excessive Sleep
Side effects of medication. Emotional challenges like depression or anxiety. Lack of emotional stimulation leading to boredom. Underlying health problems.
Boredom, depression, chronic pain and/or nutritional deficiencies can be some of the underlying causes that account for excessive daytime sleeping. Medications can also be a problem.
Excessive sleepiness in older adults is often multifactorial and may signal an underlying sleep disorder, chronic medical condition, undiagnosed mood disorder, or side effects of medications. It is associated with increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly.
Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, thyroid disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Untreated pain and diseases like fibromyalgia. Anemia. Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.
If you have concerns about sleeping more than 9 hours nightly or not getting enough sleep (less than 6 hours), you should contact your healthcare provider to discuss your individual health needs. How can you know if you should be concerned? Watch for these signs of too little or poor sleep quality: Daytime sleepiness.
Ageing, an inevitable process, is commonly measured by chronological age and, as a convention, a person aged 65 years or more is often referred to as 'elderly'.
For people over the age of 65, getting more than nine hours of sleep on a regular basis may be an early sign of the onset of dementia or Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.
According to their internal body clock, most older adults need to go to sleep around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and wake up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. Many people fight their natural inclination to sleep and choose to go to bed several hours later instead.
In general, older people sleep less, wake up and go back to sleep more often, and spend less time in deep sleep or dreaming than younger people. But at any age, you still need quality rest to be healthy.
Most often, significant changes in sleeping patterns are first seen in the middle stages of dementia. The most common sleep disorders that affect dementia patients are: Excessive sleeping, also known as hypersomnolence. Insomnia, which is the inability to fall or stay asleep.
How much water do you need to stay hydrated? As a general rule, you should take one-third of your body weight and drink that number of ounces in fluids. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, aim to drink 50 ounces of water each day.
Age, Life Cycle and Evaluations of Personal Life
Fully 71% of those under age 50 expect their lives to be better in 10 years than they are today, as do 46% of those ages 50-64. By contrast, only about a fifth of adults ages 75 and older (19%) expect their lives to be better in the future than they are today.
While a 30- to 90-minute nap in older adults appears to have brain benefits, anything longer than an hour and a half may create problems with cognition, the ability to think and form memories, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Regular exercise strengthens the heart, lungs, and muscles while boosting appetite, mood, and overall outlook on life. Skip the daytime naps. This is particularly problematic for someone with chronic fatigue, but avoiding naps, especially later in the day, will help foster a significantly better night's sleep.
Your bones, joints and muscles
With age, bones tend to shrink in size and density, weakening them and making them more susceptible to fracture. You might even become a bit shorter. Muscles generally lose strength, endurance and flexibility — factors that can affect your coordination, stability and balance.
Signs of the final stages of dementia include some of the following: Being unable to move around on one's own. Being unable to speak or make oneself understood. Eating problems such as difficulty swallowing.
increasing confusion or poor judgment. greater memory loss, including a loss of events in the more distant past. needing assistance with tasks, such as getting dressed, bathing, and grooming. significant personality and behavior changes, often caused by agitation and unfounded suspicion.