How sleep problems affect people between 40 and 55 years of age.
Between 40 and 55 years of age, whether you're a man or a woman, sleep problems tend to affect you more.
And you should ask the question why?
I encourage people to ask this question "why?" in response to pretty much every problem that people face.
And it is not asked often enough. So I just want to repeat this question: If you feel you're having sleep problems and you feel that this is because you belong to a certain age group, ask the question “why?”
In the case of men, their body is changing. And for women, particularly, hormones are changing in this age group. Universally, people have more responsibilities. More demands are on them to do more, to make more money, to work harder, to take care of their family. To save for their retirement or whatever else. So there's more stress. There's more stress and the body's changing. It’s not that this is anything good or bad about the body changing during this age group. It just changes — and you have to recognize that the body works differently as your age changes.
How does the body work differently? Well, the body is way more forgiving, or seems to be, of lack of sleep when you're much younger. Then when you are a little older. But why does it seem to be? It seems the body is more forgiving, because the damage that lack of sleep does to your body is still happening when you're younger. It just doesn't affect you as much at that time. It takes much longer for the body to have to deal with a lack of sleep or sleep ailments until you start feeling some symptoms.
In this age group between 40 and 55, people will often start experiencing more sleep symptoms. And it’s likely that these symptoms have their roots in an earlier part of life. If somebody snores and does not breathe well enough while they're sleeping, that lack of good quality sleep will affect them. They may feel tired or sleepy in the morning or during the day or, in this age group, chronic illnesses may start affecting them as a result of the sleep issues. So blood pressure goes up, blood sugar goes up, and so on. Weight starts changing and hormones change in both men and women.
We have to recognize that hormones have a very strong effect on the brain. In terms of excitement, in terms of alertness, in terms of activity level, in terms of being able to sleep deeply — all of these things are affected by the level of male and female hormones. Most particularly, as women go through menopause, they may have hot flashes. Their mind seems to have more difficulty winding down at night. They tend to have more Insomnia. And they also put on more weight as part of the hormonal change. Weight gain can make sleep apnea worse. And sleep apnea can make weight gain worse. The more the body is in stress, the more it wants to slow down metabolism.
I will often hear people say, “I eat the same that I used to, I exercise the same that I used to, but now I'm putting on weight. Why?”
And this is the reason I started this conversation with the question "why?" The better you understand how your body needs to function to be at its best and how it is changing with age, the better you will be able to help yourself feel better and function at the best level that you desire.
- Amer Khan, MD
