Why the elderly sleep less

It has not always been clear as to why, but it is quite common for the amount of time a person sleeps per night to decrease as they get older. Now, however, recent study published in the journal, Brain, has revealed the reasons that may be behind the decrease in sleep seen as people age, Upstart Magazine reported.

It is quite common for older individuals to sleep for a considerably smaller amount of time than those of a younger age. It has now been revealed that this may be because of a certain group of neurons, the ventrolateral preoptic neurons. Or rather, the lack of these neurons. It is believed that these neurons may begin to die off as people age.

These neurons happen to be responsible for regulating sleep patterns.

The connection was first made when it was discovered that rats who lacked the neurons suffered from severe insomnia.

Afterwards, the research progressed to human subjects. 1,000 participants agreed to wear a small device on their wrists that recorded all their movements. These devices were worn for between 7 and 10 days every 2 years up until the subjects’ deaths.

At the end of the study researchers saw that there was a definite decrease in the number of ventrolateral proptic neurons in the elderly, as well as Alzheimer’s patients. These participants sleep, on average, an hour less per night than individuals in their 20′s.

This research may possibly be used in the future development of improved sleep medications. With this new knowledge, new medications may be able to correct poor sleep patterns by targeting the specific neurons that cause them, and hopefully not having any kind of negative impact on other bodily functions the way other sleep medications are prone to.

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