Healthy aging and longevity Archive

Sleeping less doesn't have to be a consequence of growing older. A few adjustments to your sleep habits can help you sleep longer and better.

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If worries that you're not getting enough sleep are keeping you up at night, it's little wonder. A steady stream of reports has linked inadequate sleep to cognitive decline. Studies have also shown that people with sleep debts accrued by consecutive nights of sleeping too little are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, and weight gain.

Sleep is essential to good health, and not just because it knits up the raveled sleeve of care. It restores physical and mental performance, immune function, and metabolism. But how much sleep is necessary for those functions? It varies from person to person, says Dr. Elizabeth Klerman, a physiologist and physician at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital who studies sleep.

Studies have linked long periods of sitting with an increase in heart disease and early death.

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Odds are you are sitting while you read this. In fact, more than half of an average person's waking hours are spent sitting, according to a study in the Jan. 19, 2015, Annals of Internal Medicine.

All that sitting can cause great damage to your health. "The health risks tied to sitting may not be completely related to the act of sitting itself, but rather that sitting keeps you from doing healthier activity," says Dr. I-Min Lee of Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

How can you keep snacking from derailing your healthy eating program, not to mention weight control? Try these tips.

Don't skip meals. Skipping meals may seem like a good way to cut calories, but in fact this just makes you so hungry later in the day that you're vulnerable to devouring mega-portions of snack food, in order to supply your body with easily digested sugars.

Fish is an excellent source of protein, and its healthy oils protect against cardiovascular disease. Because a diet rich in seafood protects the heart and aids neurological development, fish remains an important component of a healthy diet.

However, nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of mercury, a toxic metal, and some seafood contains other contaminants known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). As small fish are eaten by larger fish up the food chain, concentrations of mercury and POPs increase, so that large, predatory deep-ocean fish tend to contain the highest levels. That makes it best to avoid eating large fish, such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel. As long as you avoid these higher sources of mercury, the benefits of eating fish far outweigh the risks of mercury in fish.

Getting enough good-quality sleep is essential to staying healthy and aging well. Certain sleep problems — for example, sleep apnea — require medical treatment. But these 10 simple steps can help you overcome general sleep difficulties, including insomnia.

1. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule and routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning. A set sleep routine will "train" you to fall asleep and wake up more easily.
2. Use the bed only for sleep and sex.
3. Cut down on caffeine. For some people, a single cup of coffee in the morning means a sleepless night. Caffeine can also increase the need to urinate during the night.
4. Be physically active. Regular aerobic exercise like walking, running, or swimming provides three important sleep benefits: you'll fall asleep faster, attain a higher percentage of restorative deep sleep, and awaken less often during the night.
5. Limit daytime naps. Prolonged napping can disrupt your natural sleep cycle and prevent you from feeling tired enough to fall asleep.
6. If you use tobacco in any form, quit. Nicotine makes it harder to fall asleep.
7. Use alcohol cautiously. Alcohol depresses the nervous system, so a nightcap may help some people fall asleep. But this effect disappears after a few hours and may even lead to waking up throughout the night. Alcohol can also worsen snoring and other sleep breathing problems.
8. Improve your sleep surroundings. Remove the television, telephone, and any other devices from the bedroom. This reinforces the idea that this room is meant for sleeping. An ideal environment is quiet, dark, and relatively cool, with a comfortable bed and minimal clutter.
9. If you're still awake after about 20 minutes in bed, get up and read awhile to relax. Otherwise, you'll set yourself up for tossing and turning.
10. Try to avoid taking sleeping pills. If you do take a prescription sleep medicine, work with your doctor to use it effectively and for as short a time as possible.

For more ways to get better-quality sleep and tackle common sleep problems, buy Improving Sleep: A guide to a good night's rest, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. 

Answer these questions so you can identify poor sleep patterns or symptoms and seek treatment.

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Most people know that sleep is an important part of good health. But not everyone is as well versed on how to get those coveted Z's. "Sleep literacy could use a lot of work. The average amount of sleep Americans get has dropped by an hour to an hour and a half per night," says sleep expert Dr. Lawrence Epstein, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Epstein points out that people who get less sleep are more likely to develop obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. "People who sleep less don't live as long as people who sleep more," he warns.