Older adults with poor sleep habits have an altered immune system response to stress that may increase their risk for mental and physical health problems. Stress leads to significantly larger increases in a marker of inflammation in poor sleepers compared to good sleepers; a marker associated with poor health outcomes and death. Poor sleepers report more depressive symptoms, more loneliness and more global perceived stress relative to good sleepers. As people age, a gradual decline in the immune system occurs, along with an increase in inflammation. Heightened inflammation increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other illnesses, as well as psychiatric problems.
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, March 2012
