WVU in the News: Simple strategies for better sleep
"Sweet dreams” is a common refrain when you’re headed to bed, but by all accounts, our slumber is anything but sweet these days. In normal times, about 50 percent of older adults in the U.S. meet the criteria for having a sleep disorder, and what’s been dubbed COVID-somnia has only made things worse. According to a survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 32 percent of Americans ages 65 and older reported an increase in sleep problems since the start of the pandemic.
Whatever it is that’s keeping you awake, there are changes you can make throughout the day that can pay off at bedtime.
A 2017 review of three meta-analyses published in the Journal of Evidence Based Medicine found that exercise helped reduce the number of sleep apnea episodes and increase the ability to fall asleep. “There was a 19 percent improvement in overall sleep quality—getting consistent sleep on a daily basis—in those who exercised,” says George Kelley, a co-author of the study and director of the Meta-Analytic Research Group in the School of Public Health at West Virginia University.