Poor sleep and seniors: Why it happens and how to get relief

For nearly three decades, Donna Cashman has had trouble sleeping.

In her younger years, the Central Islip resident said she worked a swing shift at Entenmann’s while raising three children, including one with special needs. Despite her work schedule, she still had to get the children up for school and run the household.

“I was up almost 24 hours a day,” Cashman, 69, recalled.

Years later, she said her body still hasn’t reverted to a normal sleeping pattern. She wakes up most nights between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., and usually doesn’t fall back asleep for an hour or so. She said she’s tried various remedies, including boiled banana peel tea, St. John’s wort, melatonin, tart cherry juice and Ambien.

What generally helps, Cashman said, is drinking soothing teas like The Tea Spot’s Lights Out and reading her Bible.

“I just get up, have a cup of tea, do my devotionals,” she said.

Cashman isn’t alone in her struggles with sleep. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 53% of Americans surveyed said they always or often have trouble falling asleep, and nearly 30% said insomnia — difficulty falling or staying asleep, or regularly waking up earlier than desired — has had a negative impact on their daily lives.

For people 60 and older, insomnia is the most common sleep problem, according to the National Institute on Aging. Insomnia can last for days, months or years, with sufferers waking up tired and feeling sleepy during the day.

“We’re seeing more people in their 60s, 70s and 80s coming to our sleep lab,” said Dr. Avram Gold, medical director of Stony Brook University’s Sleep Disorders Center.

However, experts say it may not be that sleep issues have worsened, but that there is a heightened awareness of them.

That is partly due to the pandemic, said Gold, when people suffered sleep troubles related to stress or contracting COVID. Experts say patients are now broaching the subject with their doctors more often, and vice versa.

Another factor is the popularity of fitness trackers.

“People are tracking their sleep with wearables, so they’re talking about it,” said Dr. Sritha Rajupet, interim chair of the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook Medicine.

WHY NOW?

Experts say there are many reasons seniors can be plagued by poor sleep.

“Sleep issues significantly increase in middle age due to changes in health, hormones, an increased risk for certain sleep disorders and natural changes to the brain and body associated with aging,” said Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, head of sleep at Wesper, a sleep disorder diagnostics and technology company based in Manhattan.

As people age, the body secretes less melatonin, which is produced in response to darkness and promotes sleep by coordinating circadian rhythms.

Mental and physical health conditions may also interfere with sleep. According to the National Council on Aging, some of the conditions that can affect sleep in older people include depression, anxiety, nighttime urination, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and illnesses that cause discomfort or pain, like arthritis. Medications can also affect sleep.

And, said Rohrscheib, “An unhealthy lifestyle, such as a poor diet and lack of exercise, can exacerbate sleep issues.”

Chronic bad sleep can have serious ramifications. Research from the National Council of Aging shows that not getting enough sleep may increase the risk of conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, memory problems and depression.

‘MONKEY MIND’

Angela Carillo, 67, of Bethpage, said she has struggled with sleep ever since she was a child. Her mind races, bombarding her with thoughts, and prevents her from relaxing.

But over the years, she said she has developed several coping strategies. She puts her phone under her pillow and plays a guided relaxation program that helps with insomnia. She practices yoga, which she said helps “my monkey mind, so I can better control my thoughts.” She keeps a pad by her bed to write down her thoughts. She goes to bed at a set time every night. She recites a mantra expressing gratitude. And if sleep takes too long to come, she said she goes down to her basement and works in her soap-making studio.

Carillo, who’s been married 44 years and has grown children, said her sleep may not be perfect, but she’s come a long way. At work, she remembers often going to her car during her lunch break and taking a nap. Fearing someone would see her, she sometimes drove out of the parking lot and found a spot in the neighborhood to park and sleep.

“If I go to bed and fall asleep, wonderful,” she said. “But if not, my system works 90% of the time.”

FIGHTING SLEEP APNEA

For Bob Lazar, sleeping with a mask connected to a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine — which keeps a patient’s airways open while they are asleep — has helped with his sleep apnea, which caused interrupted slumber.

The Oceanside resident, 77, said he had weight loss surgery last year, which has also helped, and he hopes to see further improvement as he continues to lose weight.

“I hope that eventually the mask and machine won’t be necessary,” he said.

A CPAP machine has also benefited Michele Lehmann, 64, of Patchogue.

Lehmann’s sleep woes started in 2020, she said, after three bouts of COVID and RSV. Her doctor recently referred her to Stony Brook University’s Sleep Disorders Center, where she underwent sleep testing and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.

The three months that she’s used the CPAP machine have been “life changing,” Lehmann said. “I am a different person. I wake up feeling refreshed, with more energy. I’m not napping in the afternoon.”

These days, instead of worrying about sleep, she said she can focus on enjoying time with her grandchildren.

Cashman has also considered undergoing a sleep study in hopes of resolving her problems.

“But I’m not sure what could help,” she said. “Since I’m semiretired and working part time, I’m managing.”

With a soft sigh, she said of her sleep, “It is what it is.”