Sleeping for 6 hours or less increases your dementia risk .Poor quality sleep also increases your dementia risk - that is sleeping with the TV or radio on , snoring , leaving lights on around you , alcohol, caffeine , noise or anything else which will disturb the quality of your sleep .
In a long-term study, Harvard Medical School followed 2,800 individuals ages 65 and older. Researchers found that individuals who slept under five hours per night were twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those who slept six to eight hours per night.
It is never too late to start sleeping better
Bad quality sleep induced by alcohol or anything else which disrupts your sleep leads to a reduction of 30 % in your exercise performance - this means that not only will you work out for less duration but with less intensity .
Poor sleep increases appetite and due to its effects on blood glucose will stimulate you to reach for poor quality calorie laden foods - increasing both the amount of calories you eat and weight gain
Poor sleep quality increases anxiety and effects depression and decision making
Going to bed and getting up at the same time each day is optimal for a good sleeping pattern .
You cannot skimp on sleep during the week and try to catch up at the weekends.
Every time you sleep in more than 2 hours past your normal sleeping time or go to bed 2 hours later than your normal sleeping time you push yourself into jet lag syndrome - this is why you tend to have that groggy feeling afterwards .
Avoid caffeine after 12.00 midday - it may either interfere with you getting to sleep or like alcohol wake you up during the night.
If you are sleeping badly at night time avoid napping during the day .
Margaret Thatcher always used to brag about how little sleep she could survive on - and ended up with dementia .
If you are struggling to sleep avoid all iPads, telephones , emails and computers prior to bed - just reading a message or email can activate your brain in ways which prevent you sleeping
Ensure a cool bedroom , use a fan or keep a window open .
If you live in a noisy area then wear ear plugs
Practice a night time rituals - just like babies our bodies are receptive to signals that it is time to go to bed . Have a warm bath dim the lights and read a book in the living room , take a stroll with the dog or do some breathing exercises - having a routine cues the body to get ready to shut down for bed .
Apparently the only things that should happen in bedroom are sex and sleep . You should read in another room if you struggle to sleep and then go to bed when you are tired - personally reading ( a book not a kindle ) helps me to feel relaxed and sleepy and does not interfere with with going to sleep.
Really you should aim for around 8 hours of sleep time.
If you wake up in the night and cannot get back to sleep then do not look at the clock or your phone - this leads to anxiety and further prolongs getting back to sleep . Remove clocks from the bedroom - get up and go back to bed when you are sleepy. This way the brain associates the bed with sleep.
Dr Matthew Walker has some amazing talks on sleep if you want to look into this further.
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