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posted by on Monday April 10 2017, @12:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the for-the-aged-among-us dept.

Restorative, sedative-free slumber can ward off mental and physical ailments.

http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/05/deep-sleep-aging/

As we grow old, our nights are frequently plagued by bouts of wakefulness, bathroom trips and other nuisances as we lose our ability to generate the deep, restorative slumber we enjoyed in youth.

But does that mean older people just need less sleep?

Not according to UC Berkeley researchers, who argue in an article published April 5 in the journal Neuron that the unmet sleep needs of the elderly elevate their risk of memory loss and a wide range of mental and physical disorders.

"Nearly every disease killing us in later life has a causal link to lack of sleep," said the article's senior author, Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience. "We've done a good job of extending life span, but a poor job of extending our health span. We now see sleep, and improving sleep, as a new pathway for helping remedy that."

-- submitted from IRC

Bryce A. Mander, Joseph R. Winer, Matthew P. Walker. Sleep and Human Aging. Neuron DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.02.004

[Ed note. (martyb)] I've certainly noticed that I do not sleep as soundly as I used to — I rarely sleep through an entire night. On the other hand, there is a body of evidence for divided/segmented sleep. How has your sleeping fared as you have gotten older?


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  • (Score: 2) by tibman on Monday April 10 2017, @05:48PM (1 child)

    by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @05:48PM (#491772)

    Jealous that you can walk to work. Where are you at with recreational showers and eating?

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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday April 10 2017, @06:06PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday April 10 2017, @06:06PM (#491787) Journal

    Showers every day, no exceptions. As to eating...I'm poor, but am also extremely thrifty and know how to make very nutritious, healing stocks from offal and bones. Also good with rice, beans, cheap cuts of meat when I can afford them, and a variety of "peasant food" dishes from north Indian and Italian styles.

    Growing up in a place where more or less everyone was Cantonese gave me an appetite for things most Americans wouldn't even feed their dogs, but that become amazing with the right preparation. Beef tendons, tripe, heart, things like that.

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