Healthy Living Blog: Neuroscientist Reveals The Real Reason Sleep Gets Worse With Age with Dr. Dan Cohen

Why does sleep seem to get harder and harder in midlife?! What the heck is causing it and what can we do about it?! How can we get more sleep in midlife? In this conversation with neurologist and sleep technology pioneer Dr. Dan Cohen, we discuss surprising insights about sleep, aging, and an innovative approach to improving both: Soltec. We explore the importance of deep, restorative Delta sleep and the role of different sleep stages.

As the inventor of the first sleep diagnostic equipment in the mid-1980s and the creator of the Soltec sleep system, Dr. Cohen shares some startling facts about our sleep patterns, especially as we age, and why they matter so much for our health. Whether you’re struggling to stay asleep or seeking ways to optimize your sleep, this episode offers invaluable insights and practical solutions.

Understanding Sleep Stages There are a few different sleep stages in a typical night’s rest. Before sleep, you move into “drowsiness” where you’re kind of awake but kind of asleep, and then you drop off into the following stages: 

1. Light Sleep: Comprises about 50% of total sleep time 
2. Deep Sleep: Ideally should be 1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hours for optimal health
3. REM Sleep: Unlike deep sleep, this doesn’t decrease significantly with age

As we age, we tend to spend way more time in “light sleep” cycle and that is why sleep starts to become and feel much less restorative – thus waking up still feeling tired. Several years ago I would get about 8-9 hours of “sleep” but would still feel SO tired. I saw that I was getting mostly light and REM sleep – with MAYBE 10 minutes of deep sleep. Yikes! Fortunately now I get closer to 90 minutes of deep sleep on a normal night.  The Deep Sleep Crisis Most people don’t realize that we start losing our ability to achieve deep sleep (aka delta sleep) as early as age 25 and deteriorates gradually over our lifetime. By our mid-to-late 40s, we’ve lost 60-70% of our deep sleep capability – and by the time you are 70-80 years old, you’re lucky if you have ANY deep sleep.  This matters A LOT because deep sleep is the MOST important type of sleep and is crucial for:

• Cellular repair and regeneration
• DNA repair within cells 
• Immune system function
• Disease resistance
• Overall health maintenance

What makes this particularly concerning is that many people might be getting adequate hours of sleep but very little quality deep sleep. You might spend 8-9 hours in bed but wake up feeling unrefreshed because you’re not getting enough of this crucial sleep stage. The Brain’s Sleep Dance Sleep doesn’t start in the cortex (which is where we measure it) – it is actually initiated in the primitive brainstem. The sleep “dance” involves a complex coordination between different brain regions, taking about 5 minutes just to initiate deep sleep. This intricate coordination requires a lot of healthy brain cells, which we naturally lose as we age.  The Frequency Factor and Soltec Sleep System’s Real-Time Sleep Stage Enhancement As humans, we have peripheral nerves and our nerves either fire or they don’t. Our brains are in control of them – like supervisors – via frequencies. Dr. Cohen’s breakthrough for Soltec came from understanding that different parts of the brain operate at different frequencies:

• During deep sleep (delta): 0.15-0.26 Hz (extremely slow waves around .2 cycles per second)
• During lighter sleep stages (alpha): around 10 Hz (like 10 cycles per second) 
• During wakefulness (beta): 13-40 Hz (much faster frequencies)

Since different parts of the brain operate and respond to specific frequencies, the nerves that normally operate at that specific level are more likely to fire, if provided those frequencies. Just like building muscle takes time and consistency, so does retraining your brainstem to produce delta sleep, via these frequencies.  The Soltec system works by:

1. Monitoring individual sleep patterns through a wrist wearable device
2. Creating a very individualized and personalized frequency profile over the first 5 nights
3. Then using magnetic fields to deliver precise frequencies that support YOUR natural sleep processes and stages 
4. Making 40-50 adjustments throughout the night based on real-time sleep stage data to enhance your sleep stages and sleep quality 

Beyond Sleep: Stress Management While Soltec is a revolutionary breakthrough for the sleep field, the technology wasn’t initially developed for sleep at all! Dr. Cohen’s original goal was to address and treat chronic stress, which medical schools teach is responsible for 75-90% of ALL medical conditions. The sleep benefits were actually a beneficial side effect of working with regulating and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system! The implications of this technology extend way beyond just better sleep. By working with the body’s natural frequencies, it also offers benefits while awake for:

• Stress reduction
• Immune system support
• Cellular repair
• Overall health optimization

While getting enough deep sleep becomes more challenging as we age, new technologies like Soltec offer hope for maintaining the quality of sleep and stress management our bodies need for optimal health and longevity.  

Visit https://midlifeconversations.com/soltec  to learn more and save $100 off your purchase using the code NATALIEJILL. Experience the difference for yourself with a 60-day risk free trial.   Soltec Health—Rest, Recover, Rejuvenate.

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