Hello, insomnia in the elderly is very common, and it can be said that more than half of the patients seen in daily sleep clinics have insomnia problems in the elderly.

Why is the problem of insomnia in the elderly so serious? There are many reasons, the most important of which is that the elderly patients are gradually declining body functions, many hormone levels in the body have obvious changes, that is, we say the biological environment has changed significantly, and many older people will be accompanied by a number of chronic diseases, but also on the sleep of negative impact, and then the elderly themselves on the demand for sleep time has been significantly reduced, so a lot of elderly people at home sleep time are to be shorter than the normal population.

Elderly people can also consider trying non-pharmacological treatments for sleep, such as adjusting their work and rest habits, exercising moderately before going to bed, using hot water to scald their feet to invigorate the blood, or drinking a cup of hot milk before going to sleep. Of course, many elderly people have tried a variety of methods are not good, they will try to eat Chinese medicine or proprietary Chinese medicine (containing some Western medicine ingredients), but most of the elderly after Chinese medicine treatment is ineffective.

In fact, the vast majority of elderly insomnia patients choose the treatment method is drug therapy, which is what we often call sleep medication. Mainly including benzodiazepines, of which the most common are alprazolam and eszopiclene, alprazolam anti-anxiety effect is good, sleep time is long; eszopiclene to fall asleep quickly, the effect of a short period of time, the next day to get up no effect. Benzodiazepine sleeping pills taken continuously for more than 6 months may produce drug dependence, so, in general, we are taking as needed, sleep adjusted to completely reduce the amount of drugs to stop, so generally will not wait until the drug dependence and drug resistance appears.

There are also the non-benzodiazepines zopiclone, dexzopiclone, and zolpidem tartrate, all of which have no drug dependence and generally have very little effect on the body and can be used without worry, except that they may be weaker than benzodiazepines in certain areas of efficacy.

Elderly insomnia can be completely relieved by taking medication, headlines also encountered a lot of users to share the experience of the elderly in the family of taking medication, once there is a 103-year-old man taking alprazolam for more than 30 years. No need to consider the problem of drug dependence or resistance, compared to the harm caused by insomnia, the other is nothing.

I hope my answer is helpful to you! Thanks!

What is the best treatment for insomnia in the elderly

Insomnia in the elderly needs to be treated by first identifying the cause of the disease, and there is no such thing as the best treatment.

Insomnia, also known as a sleep disorder, is a condition in which the duration of sleep itself is correspondingly shortened in older adults as they age. Older adults who have relative difficulty falling asleep or wake up easily, and who experience sleep disturbances more than three times a week for a cumulative period of one month or more, can be considered to be experiencing a geriatric sleep disorder.

There are many reasons for insomnia in the elderly, and how to treat it should be determined according to the cause. If the elderly themselves have some diseases, such as arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disease and so on easily triggered by insomnia, medication should be taken to actively treat the primary disease. Older people without primary diseases try to avoid sleeping during the day, appropriately increase the amount of activity, and reduce the time in bed. If the insomnia at night caused by elevated blood pressure needs to pay attention to timely take antihypertensive drugs to control blood pressure. For insomnia caused by neurological dysfunction, you need to maintain an optimistic mood, ban smoking and alcohol, moderate outdoor physical exercise, and if necessary, give benzodiazepines such as alprazolam, eszopiclone and clonazepam for treatment.

Insomnia in the elderly can affect the health of the body, timely visit to the hospital to solve the problem in time to improve the life treatment.

This content was reviewed by Dr. Yang Guigang, Deputy Chief Physician, Psychiatric Research Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital.

Click here for details of the doctor's answer

I am in my seventies and sleep 6 to 7 hours a day, and the quality of my sleep is very good, basically not getting up at night. However, between my fifties and sixties, my sleep was very poor, and I often thought nonsense, tossing and turning at night, and it was hard to fall asleep, and even when I did fall asleep, I had strange dreams, and I was mentally unstable during the day. Now my partner and I go for a walk on the greenway every day, and at home we often entertain ourselves by singing and listening to operas, sometimes playing games like the young people, not worrying about our children's affairs, and going to bed at 9:30 p.m. On time, we are getting better sleep, and I feel that we are enjoying our lives.

Older people are less sleep, if insomnia that 90% are mental problems. For example, excessive anxiety, such as excessive sadness, or some organic lesions on the body. In the treatment of insomnia this problem, of course, the best treatment method that must be symptomatic treatment. To find the crux of insomnia, the right medicine!

Here I would like to say one more thing, that is prone to insomnia, most of the elderly narrow minded, anything to the heart to pick up, for the children have endless heart, in fact, the children do not appreciate, too nagging. Then someone may ask: how do you know? Hey! I'm not hiding, my mother-in-law is such a person!

My mother-in-law 78 this year, more than 50 years old menopause that will be because of my great-uncle brother's reasons to make her very bothered, and since then got an anxiety disorder, can not sleep all night. That is to play that left the roots of the disease, so that now are tortured by insomnia, every night must take sleeping pills in order to sleep for a while. We are worried about the side effects and told her not to take it, let her go out and exercise to get rid of the dependence on drugs, but she just won't listen. Not only does she not exercise, but she doesn't take any of the other pCms, and she just recognizes that little white pill! Now the side effects are getting bigger and bigger for her, involuntary shivering of the lips, slow reaction time and mental depression.

Therefore, the elderly insomnia must not rely on drugs, think of ways to come out, I think the best way is to strengthen the exercise, distraction. Practice eight-duanjin, play taijiquan. If you don't want to do these, you can also stretch your muscles and bones at home, shake your hands and bend over. In short, to move, it is best to increase the amount of activity before going to bed, so that you can feel tired. Of course, before going to bed can use hot water to soak your feet that is the best!

Insomnia in the elderly is very common, the treatment of the first to consider the treatment of primary diseases, such as depression patients, should be early full course of application of antidepressants; and then pharmacogenetic insomnia, the first to consider the original treatment of drugs to reduce the amount of drugs or switch to other drugs.

With three parts treatment and seven parts care, improving sleep details can sometimes have a multiplier effect. The following simple points will help the elderly sleep:

1, sleep environment. Sleep good or bad, and sleep environment is closely related. Light is not too bright, 15 ~ 24 degrees Celsius room temperature, the most suitable for sleep. Before going to bed, open the window for fresh air.

2. Selection of bedding. Elderly people are prone to bone and joint diseases, the mattress should be soft, flat, thick and thin. Quilts, sheets and pillows should be neat and comfortable.

3, pay attention to the sleeping position. To the right side of the main lying, appropriate cushion high pillow position. The limbs have pain, should avoid compression of the pain and lying.

In addition to this, it is best not to eat 0.5-1 hours before going to bed to avoid increasing the burden on the stomach and intestines, especially for those who have abdominal distension and chest pressure, which is easy to cause excessive dreaming, sleep talking and nightmares. Finally, it is also not advisable to drink too much water before going to bed to avoid increasing nocturia and affecting the quality of sleep.

If my answer helps you, please give me a like~ [68]

One, exercise or do more housework. Two, take a bath or soak your feet before going to bed. This method does not work to take medicine. Even Chairman Mao took medicine.

The best treatment for insomnia in the elderly is: 1, appropriate exercise, participate in the exercise program for their own; 2, adjust the mind, the old man to forget the past bumps and unpleasant things. 3, to have their own hobbies, such as my own hobby photography, often participate in the shooting activities, insomnia will disappear in the long run.

You can refer to the theory of the unity of heaven and man in traditional Chinese medicine: go to bed early and get up early, so that there is a regularity of living and eating, and the dinner should be eaten sparingly. If you get used to it, you will be able to improve your sleep.

Of course you can. As long as you find out the cause of insomnia and treat the symptoms, you can solve the problem. Generally speaking, regardless of age, the cause of insomnia is caused by stressful thoughts and restlessness, as long as you can put down the burden and relax your mind, the problem of insomnia will be solved.

Xiong Zhaogang, Xi'an Chest Hospital

In life, more or less will hear this sentence: people get older, less sleep. Not only the elderly, nowadays life is fast-paced and stressful, young people also have less sleep. Back to the topic, insomnia usually refers to a subjective experience of unsatisfactory sleep duration and quality and affects daytime social functioning, manifested by difficulty in falling asleep (time to fall asleep is greater than 30 minutes), sleep maintenance disorders (number of awakenings is greater than 2), early awakening, sleep quality decreases, and the total sleep time decreases (usually less than 6 hours). Older people are more prone to insomnia than young and middle-aged people for both physical and psychological reasons.

Internationally, people >65 years of age are referred to as older adults. With age, cognitive impairment in the elderly affects their mood, which in turn affects sleep. Elderly people suffer from various chronic diseases, hypertension, osteoporosis, dementia, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, etc. can cause secondary insomnia, followed by tinnitus, depression and anxiety are also related to sleep disorders. In modern society, there are more and more elderly living alone, and the lack of care and support can also affect sleep.

Insomnia is also very harmful to the health of the elderly, long-term insomnia is easy to fall, anxiety, is a risk factor for hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Therefore, for the elderly insomnia, should also actively regulate the treatment. First of all, should maintain a positive mindset, moderate exercise during the day, listen to some soothing music before going to bed, avoid eating too much, avoid drinking coffee, tea and other excitatory beverages, do not talk about over-excited topics or watch overly stimulating film and television programs, to keep the bedroom quiet, can help sleep. Secondly, for serious insomnia of the elderly, can be taken under the diagnosis of clear drug treatment, commonly used drugs are antidepressants, benzodiazepines, etc. These drugs have certain side effects, should be used under the guidance of professional physicians and pharmacists. Finally, Chinese medicine in the treatment of insomnia also has a positive role, commonly used drugs are sour jujube seed, cypress seed, poria, farzhi, schizandra, shouwu vine, yujin, gardenia, half-sia, lily, longan meat and so on. In addition to the internal use of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and tuina are also effective in the treatment of insomnia.

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