Longevity listens to sleep and aging

Dr. Joshua Ramseyer, Sleep Disorder Specialist

http://www.examiner.com/x-19443-Portland-Longevity-Examiner

Dr. Joshua Ramseyer, neurologist and sleep disorder specialist, talked about sleep and aging at Multnomah County’s central library in the U.S. Bank Room, entertaining an enthusiastic lunchtime crowd—none of whom seemed excessively sleep-deprived or sleep-disordered. At least everybody stayed awake. Given an opportunity to speak with such a credentialed doctor was almost more than some could stand; questions proliferated like fruit flies on plums.

Longevity-minded people recognize the importance of sleep. One can almost assume that longevity-minded any animals or insects recognize sleep’s importance. And as we learned from the unfortunate rat experiment mentioned in a previous article, longevity becomes a moot point if sleep is withheld. From Ramseyer’s talk we learned that the way sleep researchers kept the rats awake (not an easy task if one thinks about it) was with the risk of drowning. Picture an island, surrounded by water. Fall asleep, fall in water = drown. This really was a no-win situation for those sleep-deprived rats.

Dr. Ramseyer used a 30-slide show presentation, taking the audience through general topics on sleep disorders and aging with a subtle emphasis on insomnia.

General points:
--Sleep deprivation was the primary factor in the environmental disasters at Three-mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and the Exxon Valdez (1989). While it’s true that the ship’s captain was drunk, he was not the one steering. A third mate on a 36-hour shift was piloting the ship.
--Restless leg syndrome (RLS) and sleep apnea are more common in seniors.
--Older people spend less sleep time in stages three and four (deep sleep).
--Sleep is the primary activity of a developing brain. With humans, when a child is about four years old they’ve spent nearly as much time sleeping as in being awake.
--Drowsy driving (driver tending to nod off) can easily equal the hazards of drunk driving.
--One slide showed EEG tracing of brain activity (specifically the cortex) in the six different phases of wake + five stages of sleep. The wake state and dreaming REM state look remarkably similar in brain pattern activity.

INSOMNIA:
--Some chronic insomnia may involve a physiological basis.
--The optimum time for treating general insomnia is before it gets established. Acute insomnia is usually defined as insomnia lasting less than three months and typically relates to a major life change. Insomnia is very treatable at this stage. (The point that most sleep disorders respond well to treatment is one of the joys in this profession.)
--Ramseyer mentioned a person who couldn’t get to sleep so he was reading a book about insomnia while trying to get to sleep. Duh?
--“The brain gets the sleep it needs.”
--Sleep hygiene, aka sleep habits, are very important to establish. One needs regularity in the sleep/wake schedule.
--Avoid spending too much time trying to sleep.
--Avoid falling into using the midnight hours of not being able to sleep by being “productive”—cleaning the house, re-arranging the garage, sorting closets, analyzing life’s road map, etc. This is unproductive as regards one’s sleep hygiene.
--Also avoid OTC sleep medicines for insomnia. Most contain the same ingredient and it’s not too effective. The body quickly develops resistance to the medication.

HISTORY OF SLEEP MEDICATIONS:

--Started with barbiturates, “Mickeys,” opiates, the knockout approach. Entertained a real problem in their lethal aspects in overdosing; witness probable reason for demise of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, etc.

--Next generation of sleep medications were alprazalom types, essentially anti-depressants, using the relax and everything’s okay approach to getting sleep. Turns out people could develop an addiction while also developing resistance, i.e., dosage needs go up in order to get the same effect.

--Next generation (most current), such as Ambien or Sonata, target different brain receptors. Believed to probably not be addictive or resistance prone.

--It’s normal to feel somewhat of an afternoon slump and accounts for the reason so many cultures include an afternoon siesta or nap.
--Re: problem of developing the sleep disorder which urges too early to bed and too early to rise (advanced sleep phase syndrome) involves disruption of one’s circadian rhythm. Melatonin can be helpful. Melatonin helps in re-setting one’s internal clock. Take in the morning.
--Re: JET LAG. It will help alleviate the disorienting qualities of jet lag if a person utilizes sunlight at place of arrival.

Many thanks to Dr. Joshua Ramseyer for his generosity in answering audience questions and informative presentation. Thanks also to Bess Piñón, Program Coordinator, Library Outreach Service for Multnomah County Library and those at Life by Design Northwest for bringing us the free public talks in the Perspectives on Positive Aging (POPA) series. POPA resumes in September.

Photo by Mickey Ronningen.