Today I will talk about sleeping, especially for elderly people. A lot of elderly people have sleeping problems such as waking up frequently during the night, waking up early in the morning etc., but I would like you to know that actually this is very natural.

When we are fetuses or babies, we repeat cycles of sleeping and waking for short periods around the clock. This condition is similar to the sleep pattern of animals. Only after 3 months of age, do we begin to sleep for longer periods at one time. In the case of children, this would be for 8 to 10 hours, and in the case of adults, it would be 4 to 8 hours, depending on their lifestyle. But once we retire from our job, we go back to a sleeping cycle that is similar to a babies'. Therefore, elderly people wake up a lot.

Also, sometimes there is actually a reason that older people need to wake up during sleep. The blood circulation of the brain may become low while we are sleeping and because the blood vessels of elderly people are hardened, this may lead to a lack of oxygen in the brain. In this case, it is the natural response of the body to awaken to increase the blood circulation in that area of the body. Waking up at night is a kind of signal to let people know they need more blood in their brain to prevent cerebral infarction.

In addition, elderly people who sleep too well tend to be senile. This is because brain cells are destroyed during sleep. One of my mentors told a patient who was complaining about how he couldn't sleep, "There is a very good radio program on at midnight. Why don't you listen to it if you can't sleep?" A week later, the patient visited his office and told him, "Since you suggested that I listen to that radio program, I have not been able to listen to it, because I fall asleep before that. Now I'm worried that I'm going to be senile." This is a funny story, but often the reason you can't sleep is a mental problem.