Motivated people sleep better: Finding a life purpose is a ‘drug free cure’ for sleep apnea and insomnia, study claims

• Researchers in Illinois surveyed more than 800 people aged 60-100 for 2 years
• Those who said they’d found a purpose in life slept better than those that felt lost
• It is the first long-term study to assess how a life purpose affects sleep patterns
• The research said it is applicable to all ages, and could be a drug-free alternative

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 20:37 EDT, 7 July 2017 | UPDATED: 23:08 EDT, 7 July 2017

Motivated people sleep better at night, a new study claims.

Researchers at Northwestern University found people are more likely to suffer sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome if they don’t know what to do with their lives.

Experts say the findings could offer a drug-free alternative for people who suffer from sleep disorders: finding a purpose instead of popping pills.

‘Helping people cultivate a purpose in life could be an effective drug-free strategy to improve sleep quality, particularly for a population that is facing more insomnia,’ said senior author Dr Jason Ong, an associate professor of neurology at Northwestern.

‘Purpose in life is something that can be cultivated and enhanced through mindfulness therapies.’

The report is the first study to show the direct impact of a life purpose has on sleep disturbances and sleep quality and over an extended period of time.

Previous studies have shown long-term goals generally help to improve sleeping patterns, but this had only been measured in isolated incidents.

While this study focused on older people, aged 60 to 100 years old, Dr Ong insists it is clearly applicable to all ages.

Individuals have more sleep disturbances and insomnia as they get older.
Poor sleep quality is related to having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep and feeling sleepy during the day.

Sleep apnea is a common disorder that increases with age in which a person has shallow breathing or pauses in breathing during sleep several times per hour.

This disruption often makes a person feel unrefreshed upon waking up and excessively sleepy during the day.

Restless leg syndrome causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs and an irresistible urge to move them.

Symptoms commonly occur in the late afternoon or evening hours and are often most severe at night when a person is resting, such as sitting or lying in bed.

The American College of Physicians recommends drug-free treatment as the first option for insomnia, such as mindfulness and yoga.

To assess the impacts of such an approach, Dr Ong’s team tracked the sleeping patterns of 823 people for two years.

The participants – healthy people with an average age of 79 – were from two groups at Rush University Medical Center. More than half were African American and 77 percent were female.

People who felt their lives had meaning were 63 percent less likely to have sleep apnea and 52 percent less likely to have restless leg syndrome.
They also had moderately better sleep quality, a global measure of sleep disturbance.

The participants answered a 10-question survey on purpose in life and a 32-question survey on sleep.

They were asked to rate their response to such statements as, ‘I feel good when I think of what I’ve done in the past and what I hope to do in the future.’

The next step in the research should be to study the use of mindfulness-based therapies to target purpose in life and resulting sleep quality, said Arlener Turner, the study’s first author.