More REM Sleep Needed to Reduce Mortality Rate in Older Adults

A study in JAMA Neurology found that reduced rapid eye movement (REM) sleep could boost the mortality risk for older adults, reports HCPLive . The Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men Sleep Study and Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, which included more than 4,000 subjects, suggest that lower amounts of REM sleep is linked to a higher risk of all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older adults. Over the 12.1-year period of the first study, which commenced in 2003, there was a 13 percent higher mortality rate for every 5 percent reduction in REM sleep observed. The cohort in the 20.8-year-long latter study confirmed these findings. "Strategies to preserve REM sleep may influence clinical therapies and reduce mortality risk, particularly for adults with less than 15 percent REM," they concluded.