Loss of neurons for sleep may explain why older adults suffer from insomnia
futurity.org
futurity.org
Since my son was born I average about 4 hours of sleep a night. I actually seem more high functioning on 2 hours than on the rare occasion I get 8 (I joke that my body assumes I'm dead and starts giving up).
I have embraced one thing, something I never understood as a child, falling asleep on the couch. I get my best sleep between the time my wife puts a boring movie on and when she tells me to go to bed.
It's really nice feeling like you can sleep anywhere.
Had a wisdom tooth out which meant no hot drinks and I've been falling asleep pretty much as soon as I shut my eyes which is awesome, I think I'm going to give caffeine up completely for a while and see if that helps.
Does this imply sitting on the couch? Or other posture that is more vertical than your bed?
If so (and especially if your wife says you snore), you may want to investigate the possibility of obstructive sleep apnea. Changes in position can affect how you breath when fully relaxed (asleep), and sleeping horizontally can be much worse than sitting/reclining. If this is producing a significant change in sleep quality, getting a sleep study is easy and would be very informative.
This is just a guess, of course. Kids are notorious for making sleep-deprived parents.
//my sleep studies where AHI=148 and AHI=150 //for me, sleeping in a reclining position helped that more than CPAP or surgery
I lost 80 lbs and it didn't lessen up at all. I've apparently being doing it since I was a child and my son occasionally does it too!
Lack of the inhibitory neurons may prevent the brain from entering and maintaining sleep states.
I studied some psych recently and one of my biggest personal takeaways was amazement that nervous system works as well as it does for so many of us so much of the time, it is such a Goldbergian hackfest of spaghetti wiring and luck. That and reflex loops.
Gotta love evolution.
Do an hour or so of resistance training, mainly with your legs[1], and you'll sleep just fine. All else being equal.
Alternatively, you can walk for 3-4 hours, which is actually a surprisingly enjoyable activity - especially in an urban environment. Look up the word "flaneur".
[1] Squats or lunges (or leg press, if you must) for the biggest muscles in your legs, and calf raises, etc., for your calves, which are also quite large muscles.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Hea...
I was told by my doc that the bipedal motion of walking helps our brain process problems but I haven't looked for any scholarly references on that. If true, that would help sleep too.
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet: V, iii:
"..But he which bore my letter, Friar John, Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight Return'd my letter back. "
For some data: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%...
But in the context of the OP's content about disrupted and fragmented sleep, it should probably be ''stay asleep'' as you say. Probably a typo or something.
Since the title is kind of baity anyway with its Upworthy 'this', we changed it (from "This could explain why older adults can't stay sleep") to the article's first sentence, truncated to fit.
(Not criticizing, really. As a non-native English speaker, this sounded weird, but I might well be wrong. So I'm asking a genuine question, albeit with a "I think this might be wrong" tone)
The article implies that there are losses of a specific neuron which resides in a specific part of the brain which is thought to control sleep.
The neurons in this story are tasked with helping an individual sleep, thus the title 'Loss of neurons for sleep...' is correct. The neurons in this article are used by the individual FOR sleeping.
I could understand someone interpreting it as a barter or trade. "I will give you these neurons FOR that sleep", however that's not intended. Perhaps "Loss of neurons (for sleep).." or "Loss of neurons which aid in sleep.." would be even more clear.