Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T13:16:08.460Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

two - Sleep and autonomy in later life: the SomnIA project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2022

Alan Walker
Affiliation:
The University of Sheffield
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Sleep is central to health and wellbeing, yet sleep is likely to deteriorate with advancing age. Health promotion over the last two decades has emphasised the importance for health and wellbeing of the ‘big four’ – a good diet, physical exercise, not smoking, and restricting alcohol consumption. A fifth health promotion message is also essential for good health and wellbeing, namely, sleep. Sleep of a sufficient duration and quality is important for older people's wellbeing and ability to engage fully in daytime activities, whether living in their own homes or in a care home.

While many sleep researchers view sleep purely as a physiological process, social scientists have increasingly shown how a range of societal factors associated with individuals’ roles, relationships, family circumstances, daytime activities and environmental factors have an impact on sleep quality and duration (Hislop and Arber, 2006; Williams et al, 2010; Arber et al, 2012). While not denying that sleep has some physiological basis, this chapter examines some of the social aspects of sleep that are critical in influencing the autonomy and independence of older adults. As Williams (2005) reminds us, how, when and where we sleep are all societally, historically and culturally contingent.

Prospective epidemiological studies show a link between short sleep duration (under 6 hours) and elevated mortality, especially from cardiovascular disease (Ferrie et al, 2010; Grandner et al, 2012). Sleep is also important for cognitive functioning and memory consolidation (Busto et al, 2001), and sleep problems have an impact on quality of life, on daytime functioning and on recovery from illness (Haimov and Vadas, 2009).

It is well known that depression is associated with sleep problems, although recent research has shown that sleep problems often predate depression, and may therefore be a causal factor in the development of depression (Ferrie et al, 2011). During sleep, various physiological mechanisms take place associated with repair of the immune and other biological systems. Thus, sleep problems have detrimental effects on health in later life, with those who suffer from poor sleep being more likely to be at risk of heart attacks, falls, stroke, obesity and depression (Ancoli-Israel, 2005; Harrington and Lee-Chiong, 2007).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×