Sleep Apnea, Insomnia, and Aging: What You Need to Know

You are listening to Boomers Today with your host Frank Samson. Well, welcome to Boomers Today. I’m your host, Frank Samson. Of course, each week we’ll bring you important and very useful information on issues facing baby boomers, their parents, and other loved ones.

And as I do on every one of our shows, I thank all of you, and I thank all of you because our listeners are growing each and every day and it’s because of you, you know, sharing our podcasts with family and friends. And I can’t thank you enough for doing that. Many of you listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our Heart Radio, Audible. Some of you just ask Alexa Siri just to take you to Boomers Today.

Of course you could always go to our website at Boomerstodayradio dot com. So again, I just want to thank all of you for doing that, but I know why you do. It’s real clear to me because we have wonderful guests and certainly, as I always say, I’m not going to disappoint you. Today we have with us doctor Carlera Weiss, who is a sleep science advisor at Airflow Sleep.

She’s also a Research Assistant professor at the State University of New York and Buffalo, New York. Originally from Brazil, she has over fifteen years of experience as an adult geriatric nurse. She was recently featured in BuzzFeed Insider, Eating Well, Women’s Health, and on the Well plus Good podcast. She provides expert advice and what impacts patients sleep, advocates for better health and wellness care, and promotes diversity, equity and inclusion through many digital platforms.

She also acts as a medical professor, co host and title name of the YouTube series Weiss’s Words. So doctor Weiss, thank you so much for joining us on Boomers today. Hi Frank, thanks so much for having me today. I’m excited to talk to you and to your listeners and hoping share more information about sleep that will be helpful to them.

It’s an important subject matter. It seems I might probably at the age that when I get together with friends for dinner, it’s always a subject matter, you know, sleeping, Oh I couldn’t sleep last night or whatever. So I’m going to learn along with everybody else here, but I’d love to know just kind of you know, it’s an important feel But how’d you get how’d you get involved? How’d you become more of a specialist in this area. What did it? Was it anything personal or just you saw the need? That was actually a combination of the things.

I grew up in Brazil, as we were talking in the beginning and the introduction, I grew up in Brazil in an intergenerational household. So you had my grandmother, my great grandmother, my mom, and I And one common feature among the older people in my family is that they snored so loud that which the house. So at that time, I didn’t know that this type of snoring would be a sign for untreated or undiagnosed obstructed slypep mea and having obstructed sleepep mea and do not follow the treatment increased the likelihood of having the mentionia. So unfortunately, my grandmother had the mensia.

My great grandmother also had the mania, and that really uh stayed with me. As I developed my path as a geriatric specialist and also as a scientist, I became very interesting to know how can we use sleep as a modifiable behavior to montane brain health and to the lady on side of the mania. So that’s how I ended up navigating this field, and now this year I’ll be to any one years as a geriatric specialist. So and over the past fifteen years I’ve been dedicating to research in looking into sleep and the mantia.

So that’s that’s the story. So, you know, I you know, as you know, I’m in the senior care field, and I you know, certainly have known NAEs stetistic about you know that lack of sleep or poor sleep could lead into some form of dimensional like Alzheimer’s, et cetera. But I guess I’ve never asked anybody this, and I’m want to ask you scientifically, why is that? I mean, it’s fair, but why is that? Do you do you feel that that that could happen or it happens often? So, sleep has a protective effect in the brain, and the physio physiology behind it is that during sleep, our brain has the ability to clear out some proteins that accumulate in the brain. Some example of those proteins are amyloid beta TAUL protein, which are the hallmarks for the mention and Nolzheimer’s disease.

Right, So, if we are not having the proper duration of sleep or not going through all these sleep stages, especially the deep sleep stages, When these clearings happen, then we start accumulating those biomarkets in our brain and that’s where the increased risk for the mensia happens. So there are studies looking at people when their fifties and four forties and doing longitudinal evaluations. So if you’re not sleeping well or sleeping less than six hours in your forties and fifties, there is about thirty percent increased chance to have the mention in your seventies and eighties. Gotcha, Well, thank you for explaining that.

I appreciate it. So what do you feel Some of the biggest misconceptions are that people have about sleep. The biggest misconception I believe that is we don’t need to sleep the eight hours right that we have a recommendation of the number of hours that is set by the American Academy of Sleep medic Medicine, and most people say, I’m okay with five or I’m okay with six. There’s a very small percent of people that can genetic have a genetic motification allows them to be a short sleeper and still be maintaining their physical and cognitive function with a short sleep generation.

But most of us really need that recommended hours per night. And as I said that this cleaning mechanism that happens in the brain and also other physiological functions such as hormone regulation that really needs sleep to occur. So by believing that we can function with less hours of sleep, I believe that this is one of the worst things that we can do right. And this is one of the misconceptions that we have in our society that everything is twenty four seven and if you need to cut down in something, the first thing that we’re gonna cut out to the sleep.

Those that say, hey, you know, I got to get up real early in the morning for my work or you know, whatever they’re doing, and I’ll catch up this weekend. You know. In other words, i might be sleeping four or five hours a night during the week, but no plans this weekend. I’m going to catch up on sleep this weekend.

How do you respond to that? So that is an excellent question because what the research tells us is that catching up on sleep can be helpful for certain things, such as it can help with attention and concentration, but it does not help with cardiovascular protection. One of the problems that happened with is sleep when we don’t sleep well or if you have an obstructor sleep at MEA for example, you’re not being treated for that is that increase the heart heart rate and also increase blood pressure, So you’re more likely to have cardiovascular disease if you don’t sleep well or don’t use your seatpath. So a person that tells me that they’re gonna catch up on sleep on the weekend, they will probably recover for the attention and concentration and all that the brain fog that may happen for being sleep deprived, but their heart is not recovering for that. So unfortunately, we don’t have evidence based way to catch up on sleep that would help your body and the brain in being the best shape.

Gotcha, gotcha? So yeah, I love to learn more. I know you were very involved in a recent survey, proprietary survey conducted by air Flow Sleep. Talk to us more about that and what those results were. Yeah, so this survey was really eye opening to us, and we’re calling this as a wake up call because really showed us that we had about two thousand people across the United States answering the study and eighty one percent is struggling.

If you sleep and about sixty percent is left less than seven hours a night, which put them at risk for cardiovascular disease and also for the measure right. And another thing that was really eye opening to us is the amount of people who are relying on social media for medical advice and following what we call trends on social media, such as mouth taping or taking supplements without having proper medical diagnoses or medical assistance to make those choices. So about more than fifty percent we’re using trends like mouth taping or taking medication or taping supplements without a medical advice. So, as I said, it was really a wake up cull to us to explain people that despite of what we see on social media, we still need evidence based guidance and we still need medical advice before jumping in whatever is posted on social media.

Gotcha. So I know the survey included about two thousand adults. Was at a wide range age wise, or was it more older adults? It was a wide range, and we actually divided the data to look at adults between eighteen to twenty five and then mid age and then later for older adults. And we also look at the data comparing men and women and it was surprising to us that young men and young women, they’re both looking at social media for advice.

But as we start looking at middle age and older persons, men are more likely to look for social media for advice and they are also more likely to seek medical assistance than women. So that was surprising for us. Right, women, from what we’re seeing in the data, UH, women are not having uh as much support from finding medical advice for their sleep problems. And this group of women are the ones who are navigating imperimental posal and men opposal tradition transition, and it’s a time with multiple sleep complaints.

Right, we have some changes in hormone regulation that directly impacts sleep, and unfortunately, according to our data, these women are not finding enough medical support to navigate this transition and to treat the sleep disturbances at that time. Yeah, so you know, this area has become a real specialty. So when you talk about getting you know, proper UH guidance or education from doctors, talk to us more about that. Uh.

You know, you’re in Buffalo. I’m not sure if you’re uh you’re working directly with people in your area or even maybe you are around the country. But what what advice would you have to our listeners who want to, you know, feel they need to get some advice. Is there specialists or that that type of specialists they should go to.

Should they just go to their GP and go from there or what? What? What advice would you have there? There’s an excellent question. I I do work with the community here in Buffalo. My overall recommendation is it start by understanding or sleep better. We have multiple ways to do that.

We have sleep trackers, like we have watches, rings, or even if you have a paper based sleep diary saying when you went to bed, when you wake up, how many times you wake up during the night. Understand your sleep better because with that you can see where the problem is. Most of the people that I encounter, they have slip problems for ten or fifteen years without seeking medical assistance because they just got used to have the sleep problem. So once you understand that is a problem happening, and you also associate that with having for example, headaches, wood swings, difficult concentrating, difficult breathing, then you combine this information and go to your primary care provider saying I’m experiencing X, Y and Z sleep problems.

Right, I’m having difficulty falling sleep. Difficulty is staying in sleep. I’m coughing during the night even though I don’t have a code. Or I wake up with a dry mouth every day, or I wake up with a sore throat every day, or I wake up fifteen times during the night.

Those things are normal part of aging, right, but most people don’t know that. So start by understanding or sleep better. Compile this information and seek your primary care provider and they should recommend you a sleep study to identify the cause of those problems. So from there you have a diagnosis and then a treatment that is tailored and adequate for what for the specifics the problem that you have.

Got it? Got it? Well, we’re gonna take a quick break, I promise, just to recognize our sponsor, and then doctor Weiss when we come back, I got to still a bunch more questions for you. We’ll learn a little bit more about some of the great things you’re doing and how the people could learn more. Talk about sleep tips, maybe some of the red flags that look out for from snoring, and certainly we haven’t even talked about sea pack machines or mouthguards. So we’re going to talk about all that when we get back.

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If driving retirement is the appropriate decision, then the individual and their family are offered possible alternatives, resources and a specific plan to ensure a smooth and successful transition from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat. So to learn more, you could go to www dot Beyond Driving with Dignity. That’s Beyond Driving with Dignity dot com to connect with a Senior care authority advisor in your area. We are back with doctor CARLERA Weiss, who is a sleep science advisor at air Force aerow Floor Arrow.

That’s a tongue twister aarrow Flow Sleep. So, doctor Weiss, I’d love to learn more on all the wonderful things you’re doing, So feel free to share with our listeners how they can learn more website whatever you’d like to share, Yes, of course. So I am a science advisor at Airflow, So we have a blog with where we share evidence based sleep information in a way that everybody can understand. So I highly recommend the listeners if you have sleep questions, seek that Airfloor Sleep blog.

And also I’m a system professor at the Universe at Buffalo, and then my website within the university has news and information about these studies that I run and also what is coming down the pipeline specifically, especially for the studies that I do with sleep in the Mansion. Great, and what’s the website I’m sorry, So that. Is is Buffalo dot edu and then you can search for my name under that and also for Airflowers lead is the Airflow is lead blog. Perfect perfect, Great? Great.

So I’m gonna leave it up to you here. You know, there’s a few things I’d like to make sure we discuss before we finish up the podcast. I want to talk about best sleep tips. I want to talk about maybe red flags, a look out for when somebody is snoring.

I want to talk about you know, ceapack and mouthguards. So those are the things I like to cover. So I’ll let you take it in the order that you wish. Great, So I would like to start with the red flags.

Okay, So what is a red flag for somebody that is annoying because it’s gnoring. It doesn’t mean that somebody has obstructed sleep apnea. But if you have those red flags, those are things that is should talk to your medical provider. Those red flags are, for example, waking up with a dry mouth or a sore throat.

So if you’very snorting and also waking up with a dry mouth or a sore throat, if you wake up with headaches, if you wake up with brain fog, difficulty concentrating, difficulty with attention, or you feel that you need a nap within one hour or two after wake up in the morning. Another red flag is you spend eight hours in bed and you still don’t feel like you have enough sleep, you wake up tired. Those are indicators that you may have an undiagnosed sleep disorder and it could be obstracted sleep at nea. So my sleep tip is get a consistently sleep schedule, goad at the same time every day, wake up at the same time every day, and start tracking or sleep start really paying attention on how your sleep is changing.

After you implement this consistently bad time routine and sleep hygiene. Right. So, if you’re doing this consistent bad time routine, doing some sleep hygiene such as avoiding your phone at least one hour before you go to bed, and within two weeks all those red flag symptoms is still persistent, then I highly recommend checking with a primary care provider. The reason why it’s important to understand the red flags and also implement your sleep changes is that sometimes you may have those symptoms and it’s something temporary, it’s a stressful time in your life, or something else is going on that is not related to sleep.

But once you identify the red flex you make some behavioral changes, and your sleep do not get better, then definitely seek medical advice and investigate what type of sleep problems you may have. Gotcha great? Great? So when I get into sleep tips, yes, so. My sleep tips, I tell three things. One thing is the consistent bad time, right, so go to better at the same time every time, every day, at the same time, wake up at the same time every day.

We can be flexed, so flexible within one hour, right, But it’s important to have that consistency, so your biological clock understand when it’s time to wake up and when it’s time to fall with sleep. And with that we will promote all the hormone regulation and all the functions that need to happen in your brain and for all your body while you are sleeping. So first one consistency. The second one is once you wake up in the morning, increase exposure to light.

Light tells our biological clock that is time to wake up, and again the hormone regulation is going to follow that. And the third thing is avoid stimulation before your bed’s time. That stimulation can come from light, from electronical devices. That stimulation can be excrolling out from social media.

That stimulation can be doing something that actually wake you more instead of relaxing. We need that relaxation at least one hour before we go to bed to help our brain transition between a wake stage to a sleep stage. So consistency light in the morning and also relaxation before bedtime. With those three things we can make a difference in how our brain approach is sleep and wakefulness.

And then as I said, those three things, we set a stage to a physiological change. Also that you can then notice improvement in your sleep. If you don’t see improvement you’re sleeping within two weeks, then bring those red flags to a primary care provider. Great.

Great, So let’s talk about the seapack and other options as well. Maybe you could explain just in case people don’t know what a seapack is, a seapack machine, what is the difference between utilizing a seapack or maybe And I know that there are mouthguards that may be certain Dennis are trained to to fit with people. I know people who have that and it’s actually been helpful. And maybe any suggestions you have on if somebody needs one of those two is or a way to get that through run through insurance.

So I know it’s a loaded question, a lot a lot to unpacked there, but why don’t we address that? Yes, of course and so important to talk about this, especially as we’re talking at the beginning with so many people resorting to social media for mouth taping mouthguard, So I’m happy to explain this a SEATPAP is the gold standard treatment for obstructed sleepepnia. A SEATPAP is a medical device, is a machine that basically provides air to keep the upper airways so the mouth and nose and throat open while somebody is sleeping. Why is that important. It’s because obstructed sleepap me there’s a blockage on these upper airways and then there’s less oxygen reaching the brain when somebody’s sleeping.

So having a seatpap is the machine and a mask making sure that there is air coming through the upper airways and reaching enough oxygen to the brain. So that’s the gold standard treatment. Of course, we have some issues with adaptation to wear a mask through the night or having the air coming through the mouth and the nose through the night. So there’s alternatives to the seapath, especially for people who have a mild case or a not a severe case of obstructed sleepepinia.

So somebody that has a mild case, meaning that they wake up only a a few times during the night, less than fifteen times during the night, they may be a candidate for oral appliance and that needs to be with the selected with the assistance of a trained dentist, right, So it cannot be something that you’re gonna get through TikTok or for other types of social media, right, or you cannot get that over the counter. It needs to be something that a dentist is gonna evaluate how your mouth and your teeth are and then they’re going to create something that is tailored for you. And again only a few people will qualify for the oral appliance. Most people with obstruct sleep at MEA will need a seatpath.

The good news about the seatpath is that nowadays we have a multiple options for masks, so it could be a full face mask or it could be only on the mouth or only on the nose, and we have gear to put on the head on the face also to make it more comfortable. So having a seatpap that is adjusted for your need and also comfortable for your face and for your neck, those things help with compliance and the insurance companies. We will provide a seatpath and we’ll cover all the costs for somebody that has about seventy percent of compliance, which means that they need to use the seatpap mask for at least four hours per night. We think the first thirty to ninety days once they get the machine.

So make sure to work with your primary care provider to identify that you have those red flags that we are just talking like. We wake up tired, wake up with a dry mouth, and then they will recommend you for a sleep study that can be done at your own house or at a sleep clinic, and then they will prescribe the SEATPAP and you can get the SEATPAP covered by insurance. Great. Great, So we’re unfortunately we’re out of time, but I just want to, you know, maybe take a minute and give you the opportunity if there was a question I haven’t asked you that you’re hoping, I would feel free to just, you know, maybe sum up things, any words of wisdom you have for our listeners.

I thank you for giving this last minute. So it is. I do believe that you asked all the questions. I just wanted to emphasize how important it is to have the good duration and good quiteit of sleep for your brain health and for overall health.

We talk about how poor you sleep could increase the risk of the mania, how poor you sleep affects the heart function. So if you’re listening to this and you realize that you have not been sleeping, well, make this be your wake up call to seek a system to join the problem. Great great, actor Wise, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.

It’s very educational. Thank you for having me. Yeah, and I want to thank everybody for joining us as well. Please please be safe.

We’ll talk to everybody next week. You’ve been listening to Boomers Today with Frank Sampson. To learn more about today’s show, visit boomerstodayradio dot com and join us next time for another edition of Boomers Today.