
Loss of neurons for sleep may explain why older adults suffer from insomnia - fraqed
http://www.futurity.org/neurons-older-adults-insomnia-750332/
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electromagnetic
The line that huanted me: “On average, a person in his 70s has about one hour
less sleep per night than a person in his 20s".

Since my son was born I average about 4 hours of sleep a night. I actually
seem more high functioning on 2 hours than on the rare occasion I get 8 (I
joke that my body assumes I'm dead and starts giving up).

I have embraced one thing, something I never understood as a child, falling
asleep on the couch. I get my best sleep between the time my wife puts a
boring movie on and when she tells me to go to bed.

~~~
Qantourisc
I often think it's because there is no pressure to sleep.

~~~
djtriptych
Interesting. I started crashing just wherever I fell asleep about a year ago.
Now I'm realizing I can sleep through the night on almost any surface, without
a blanket or pillow, and in a much wider range of temperatures.

It's really nice feeling like you can sleep anywhere.

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PeterWhittaker
tl;dr - a neural basis for insomnia: "The new findings demonstrate for the
first time that a group of inhibitory neurons are substantially diminished
among the elderly and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease."

Lack of the inhibitory neurons may prevent the brain from entering and
maintaining sleep states.

~~~
epaladin
Perhaps also highly correlated with anxiety disorders?

~~~
PeterWhittaker
Oooo, cool thought.

I studied some psych recently and one of my biggest personal takeaways was
amazement that nervous system works as well as it does for so many of us so
much of the time, it is such a Goldbergian hackfest of spaghetti wiring and
luck. That and reflex loops.

Gotta love evolution.

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mililani
I've noticed that a lot of people, including myself, don't suffer from
insomnia with age, but the ability to sleep deeply for 7 to 8 hours. Nowadays,
I average 6 hours of decent sleep, but, no matter how rested (or lack
thereof), I get up and feel like crap throughout the day. I have NO problems,
though, with falling asleep.

~~~
rsync
All else being equal, exercise solves this problem.

Do an hour or so of resistance training, mainly with your legs[1], and you'll
sleep just fine. All else being equal.

Alternatively, you can walk for 3-4 hours, which is actually a surprisingly
enjoyable activity - especially in an urban environment. Look up the word
"flaneur".

[1] Squats or lunges (or leg press, if you must) for the biggest muscles in
your legs, and calf raises, etc., for your calves, which are also quite large
muscles.

~~~
tatalegma
Why does this work? Any scientific research backing this suggestion?

~~~
Domenic_S
> _A study in the journal Sleep found that postmenopausal women who exercised
> for about three-and-a-half hours a week had an easier time falling asleep
> than women who exercised less often._

[http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Hea...](http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2012/July/8-secrets-
to-a-good-nights-sleep)

I was told by my doc that the bipedal motion of walking helps our brain
process problems but I haven't looked for any scholarly references on that. If
true, that would help sleep too.

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ams6110
Or maybe they just have to wake up to pee.

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crazypyro
Is stay sleep grammatically incorrect? Seems like it should be "stay asleep",
but I'm no English major.

~~~
gliptic
"stay sleep" actually kind of means the opposite, as in they can't postpone
sleep.

~~~
roeme
Interesting, I never encountered this phrase as well – is it dialect?

~~~
wavefunction
It's just an awkward/antiquated phrasing. "Stay" isn't used much anymore
except for "stay of execution."

~~~
dllthomas
Also, "stay one's hand". Still rare and a bit antiquated, but occurs more
frequently than "stay" in this sense more generally (... is my impression).

For some data:
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%2B+stay+your+hand+%2B+stay+his+hand+%2B+stay+her+hand+%2B+stay+their+hands%2Cstay+of+execution&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28stay%20my%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20your%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20his%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20her%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20their%20hands%29%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cstay%20of%20execution%3B%2Cc0)

