7 Helpful Sleep Tips For Elders

Elders tend to sleep lesser than young people due to various reasons; insomnia could severely affect their physical and mental functioning and make them susceptible to fatigue and a wide variety of health problems. It is also important to note that sleep also helps the body to regenerate and recharge itself; so we need to keep track of our elder’s sleeping patterns and help them get quality and quantity sleep.

It would help elders to follow 7 tips for good sleep:

1) It is necessary that caregivers like us insist on the elder having a check-up to rule out any underlying health problem that could be responsible for the inability or difficulty in sleeping. It is necessary to be sensitive to the elder’s sleeping pattern and problem; consulting a doctor may help get sleeping aids if deemed necessary.

2) Elders should not avoid the sun; though excessive sunshine increases ones risk of skin cancer, sunlight in moderation is good for elders. Sunlight not only promotes the body’s ability to produce Vitamin D that helps build strong bones, but it also increases the body’s ability to produce melatonin; melatonin helps seniors to not only get good sleep, but also to stay asleep longer.

3) Seniors have to urge to visit the toilet far more often than the young especially during the night. So it would help to minimize liquids a few hours before bedtime. Also caffeine hinders quality sleep in some elders; so it is best to avoid it after late afternoon. The same thing applies to alcohol that should be avoided close to bedtime.

4) Most seniors are on a variety of medications for their different health problems; some of these medications have side effects that make it difficult for the elder to sleep. Performing an analysis of the medications would help change the time of the medication that could help the elder sleep longer and well.

5) Create an environment in the bedroom that is conductive to sleep; the bedroom should be used only for sleep and nothing else. The room should be kept dark and cool and free of noises and other stimulating activities. This makes for an ideal atmosphere for quality sleep.

6) It would help seniors to get quality sleep at night by controlling napping; seniors surely need rest, so naps should be either in the late morning or early afternoon for a maximum period of 15 to 45 minutes. Also naps should be in a comfortable place as the bedroom.  

7) It is best to create a bedtime routine and avoid doing stimulating activities like hearing the news or reading something exciting just before bedtime. It would help to hear some soothing music or read a philosophical book at bedtime; this enables the mind and body to get slowly prepared for sleep. Creating a calm bedtime routine would make it easier for the elder to get good sound sleep at night.

I hope these 7 tips prove useful for both elders as well as caregivers to induce good quality sleep. Do share if you have any more tips to induce good sleep with the readers of indiapulse.sulekha.com. 

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