As we age, lots of things change. One of them is how well we sleep. Since sleep isn’t one of those activities you can decide you’re just not going to do anymore, senior sleeping issues take up a lot of mental space.
But you don’t have to take your sleep disturbances lying down. There are ways to be proactive about improving your daily dose of shut-eye.
3 Tips to Get You Through Senior Sleeping Issues
#1: Isolate the Reason
If you can pinpoint the reason behind your sleeping woes, you’ll be one step closer to solving them. You’ll need to do a bit of detective work on yourself, though. Here are a few ideas to help with this tip.
- Keep a sleep diary. For at least a week, write down when you got into bed, what time you actually fell asleep (as accurate as you can), how often you woke up in the middle of the night, how long it took you to fall back asleep, and what time you woke up in the morning. Add what made you wake up: Was it pain? Discomfort? A need for the restroom?
- Check your meds. See if any medications you’re taking are causing you to be drowsy during the day or insomnia at night. Too much daytime dozing can cause major sleep issues.
- Check your eating habits. Some people find it harder to fall asleep after certain foods. Others find that if they eat too close to bedtime, they experience discomfort that wakes them up later on. See if any foods you’re eating coincide with the sleep disruptions you recorded in your diary.
#2: Talk to your doctor.
Once you’ve done the research in the first tip, make an appointment to see your primary physician. Tell them you’ve been experiencing sleep issues, including the information from your sleep diary. Ask any questions you might have about your medications, too. Here are some questions you might want to ask:
- Am I taking any meds with side effects that could be disrupting my sleep – and I’m not aware of it?
- If so, are there meds that can be substituted for? Or are there lifestyle changes I can make that will allow me to reduce dosages or stop taking certain medications altogether?
- Is there anything in my blood work that might be influencing the way I sleep, like anemia?
- Are there alternatives to sleeping pills that can help me sleep through the night?
#3: See if there are changes you can make throughout your day.
Once you’ve discussed your sleeping issues with your doctor, take a look at your day and see if there are any changes you can make that will get you sleeping better. Don’t try more than one at a time, though, because if you do you won’t know which changes are helping and which ones aren’t.
Here are some to try:
- Go for decaf. If you’re a coffee lover you might balk at decaf. But drinking coffee with caffeine later in the day is a recipe for insomnia. And, for some people, any caffeine at all can disrupt their sleep. So if you really, really need your coffee boost, try to drink as early as possible. Then stick to decaf for the rest of the day.
- Space your liquids. We all need to stay hydrated. Try, though, to space out your drinking. Pouring too much liquid into your system later in the day is another way to keep yourself hopping at night.
- Limit naps. For many people, there’s nothing like a good afternoon snooze. Thing is, that delicious snooze might be what’s wreaking havoc with your nights. See what happens if you limit yourself to 1-2 power naps of no more than 20-25 minutes each. Studies show that sleeping for longer than that during the day can disrupt nighttime sleep, regardless of whether you’re dealing with senior sleeping issues or you’re still 28.
- Establish a sleep routine. There’s a reason we tend to put our kids to sleep every night with a story or a song: Keeping to a sleep routine trains your body to know when to expect sleep. Adults are no different. Try to go to sleep and wake up at more or less the same time every day, and give yourself some down time before you get ready for bed.
So there you have it: Three tips to help you deal with those age-related sleep issues and get you through the night – so you can wake up rested and ready to greet another day.