b. Sleep and Diseases:

Most age-related diseases have a ‘vicious relationship’ with sleep. One of the two states of sleep, NREM or REM sleep takes the brunt, or in some cases, one state may worsen the other.

For example, painful conditions, like arthritis or back pain, may keep the patient awake or can cause frequent arousals during the night and lead to problems with sleep. At other times an emotionally stressful event may keep the person awake and this in turn may play up the symptom of arthritis. Some diseases get aggravated by sleep, such as heart failure, when symptoms of breathlessness become worse. This is due to the improvement in return of blood to the heart when a patient is lying down which in turn leads to congestion in the lungs, that manifests as shortness of breath. Raising the head end may, in this situation, be helpful in overcoming the problem

A patient with heart disease may also have to wake up frequently in the night to pass urine due to the improved blood supply to the kidneys. This in turn may disturb one’s sleep.

An enlarged prostate gland in the elderly can also lead to frequent night visits to the toilet to pass urine (called nocturia) and lead to disturbed sleep.