and fragmented sleep were three times more likely to be placed in a
long-term care facility than elderly women with healthier sleep
patterns.
Using statistics from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures,
investigators studied data of older women who wore devices that
monitored sleeping patterns for three days. Five years later, they
observed that participants who spent the smallest proportion of their
time in bed actually sleeping had about three times the odds of being
placed in a nursing home.
I’m getting the association here. If you get up during the night and are disoriented, you may have a higher likelihood to fall. And falling in the elderly can lead to broken hips, etc. And that can lead to nursing home stays.
The Johns Hopkins University researchers also observed similar patterns
of associations between disturbed sleep and placement in assisted-living
facilities.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health.
importance of getting a good night’s sleep has been increasingly shown
as important. We previously blogged about the association between sleep and Alzheimer’s. The lack of sleep may increase
brain inflammation and that could be one association with the disease.
In any case, try to improve your sleep habits. Here are some tips.
