Why do we need good-quality sleep? What does it do for us? Like the sheep we conjure at bedtime, let us count the ways!

Good-quality sleep improves our mood, brain function, physical health, body chemistry, and social lives. It helps repair tissues, regulates our blood sugar, cholesterol, appetite, and satiety (which helps eliminate cravings); and helps clean up and get rid of our body’s waste products. It can also improve our attitudes and our social lives.

Clearly, sleep is important to many aspects of living a good life. But according to recent statistics from National Sleep Foundation, 15% to 30% of adults have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Senior sleep health problems often worsen with age.

As we get older, pain from common conditions — like arthritis, acid reflux, restless leg syndrome, and sleep apnea, as well as a whole host of other less-common medical conditions — affect both quality and quantity of sleep. Throw in nighttime urination and side effects from lots of medications and you’ve got a recipe for a restless night.

What happens to your body and brain when you can’t get good sleep? It’s no surprise we feel awful and can’t function. Far from being just an inconvenience, sleep problems affect your body’s functions across the board. That’s why improving sleep for older adults is so important.

Let’s take a closer look.

Mental-cognitive health: Lack of sleep decreases activity in the brain. You might notice that you struggle to stay awake during your favorite show or concentrate on a demanding task like driving in traffic. You might become forgetful and absent-minded (Where are my keys?! I just had them!!) Or, you might have trouble remembering facts and events. That’s because lack of sleep decreases our ability to concentrate, maintain attention, and stay alert.

Physical Health: Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Sleep loss (especially if it’s chronic) can increase inflammation and fatigue, impair our ability to exercise, lower our motivation, weaken our immunity, and increase the risk of illness. It also affects our appetite hormones and causes cravings.

We also might feel more pain because when we’re tired, our ability to handle discomfort decreases and we heal more slowly from injuries and illnesses.

Emotional health: As anyone with insomnia can tell you, when our brain and body don’t work well, the rest of life doesn’t work well either. Sleep deprivation alters how strongly we react to our feelings. When we’re tired, our moods fluctuate more, and it takes less to annoy or upset us.

Our social health suffers because we have less energy to adapt to social situations. We’re trying our best just to cope with the demands of daily life. In other words, lack of sleep can make you cranky. How does that affect your relationships with family and friends?

With sleep being so important to many aspects of living a good life, let’s take a look at some reasons for senior sleep disorders.

First, the body produces less melatonin as we age. Melatonin, a hormone that responds to light, is responsible for the timing of your circadian rhythm (aka your sleep-wake cycle) and plays an integral role in helping you fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up. When your body can’t produce enough melatonin, it can lead to both problems falling asleep and staying asleep.

Another cause could have something to do with light. Pupil size tends to shrink in our 60s, causing the pupils to receive less light than before. Since light is the primary signal for our circadian rhythm, this could impact your sleep/wake cycle.

Your schedule affects your circadian rhythm, too. Retirement is great, but it might mean you have less structure in your days, which can impact sleep. If you don’t wake up or go to bed around the same time every night, this can mess up your sleep. Daytime napping can also make it harder to fall asleep at night.

We need little cues for our circadian rhythm. Our days are full of internal and external cues, such as darkness, temperature changes and mealtimes, that synchronize us. These cues are important because your body relies on them as a tiny “reset” to ensure we’re aligned with that 24-hour cycle. When you don’t have as many of these little clock re-setters, your sleep cycle can be affected.

Other things that can affect your sleep? Drinking alcohol before bed, staring at the screens of electronic devices, caffeine stimulation (it can take as long as 24 hours for caffeine to fully leave your system) and, of course, stress. Things that are out of your control, like noisy neighbors or a snoring spouse (or dog!), don’t help, either.

So, what can you do about your sleep problems? You may not be able to completely change your sleep patterns, but you can ease the way to make sleep more within your reach. Here are a few sleep tips for seniors (or folks of any age, for that matter).

First, prepare for sleep the whole day. Wake up at the same time every day. Reduce your intake of caffeinated beverages and alcohol. Get moving; exercise is a great sleep promoter. (Start right here with our Meadowell program, and choose from 45 fitness classes a week.) Avoid napping if you can help it and get some sunlight every day to help regulate that internal clock.

At bedtime… Limit harsh light and noise. Turn the lamps down. Turn the TV off an hour or so before bed. Play some relaxing music, meditate, or try a sound machine. In short, create an environment and nighttime routine that promote sleep.

So take these sleep tips for seniors to hear (or to bed). If none of this helps, do let your doctor know about your sleep troubles. Perhaps they can recommend supplements or a temporary sleep aid to get you into a better sleep pattern.

It really is worth the effort to count better sleep among those sheep!