Sleep is seemingly more related to age – the younger people need it more while the elderly need it only that much. The problem can be probed into taking sleep patterns into consideration, but even then the core problem remains not addressed – it not only affects the health, but also is harmful for senior people.

Sleeplessness affects immunity of a body reducing its power to combat infections.  An experiment conducted at Veteran Medical Center in San Diego showed that reduction in a person’s total hours of sleep by half affects the normal function of T-cells—the cells vital for protecting us from bacteria, tumor and viruses.

There are ways to get peaceful sleep. Maintaining a smooth regular routine ensures proper sleep – ‘sleep hygiene’ is the term commonly used for such a routine.

1. Physical Exercise: A 30-40 minute exercise regime for four to five times a week will not only help in sleeping well, but also maintain cardiovascular function and weight and control osteoporosis and diabetes. That’s quite a lot of benefits! Exercise will also enliven your mood, as repetitive body movement will help in release of endorphins – the ‘feel good’ hormone.

2. Cut on caffeine: Avoid consuming products with caffeine late in the afternoon. Check with your prescribed medicines to see if any drug is causing sleeplessness.  Regular sleep patterns are affected by Anti-depressants and REM sleep is disturbed by some barbiturates that prove harmful over a period of time. The other agents of insomnia are Decongestants and beta-blockers.

3.Hot shower: Researches have proved that hot bath works well female patients to give deep and soothing sleep with slow brainwave.

4. Do not have meal very late that will make you feel heavy in the stomach.

5.      You can also try having warm milk that will generate Tryptophan acid, an amino acid for the brain that the body will use as chemicals to induce sleep.

6. Lastly, if disturbing issues are the cause of sleeplessness, learn to make adjustments if possible or it is best to remove yourself from them, both mentally and physically. Give in to the flow of the way things work out and consider yourself to be more important than your worries.