Surely you have noticed, when observing older people, or those who are reaching seniority, that they sleep fewer and fewer hours. But no less hours in total, since it is likely that they sleep a lot throughout the day, with even several naps. We mean fewer hours in a row, during the main phase of sleep, at night.
It is something progressive, gradual, slow, but it affects the majority of elderly people. While a young, active person can sleep for 8, 9, 10 or more hours (if they can afford it), elderly people rarely sleep more than 6 hours.
Regarding this, there are multiple factors that can influence the duration and quality of sleep, but there is one that is inherently related to aging and that has a direct impact: The production of melatonin .
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland of the human brain, also known as the epiphysis, and is produced from tryptophan, one of the 9 essential amino acids in the human body. Essential amino acids are those amino acids that code for proteins (this is for a separate article) but that the human body is not capable of synthesizing itself, so it can only obtain them from food. Therefore, you can already see a direct relationship between good nutrition and the production of melatonin and, therefore, the quality of your rest.
Returning to the relationship with sleep, melatonin is intrinsically related to the circadian rhythm that regulates sleep cycles. But what does this mean? The less melatonin we have in the body, the sooner our body will think that it is completely recovered, even if it is a lie, so it will wake up sooner. In summary: The less melatonin production, the fewer hours in a row you can sleep at night.
This aging process generates a vicious circle, since the less melatonin, the fewer hours we sleep and therefore the less our body recovers, which accelerates aging and causes less melatonin to be produced. And start again.
This is why it is common to see that older people tend to be very tired, since their rest with age is increasingly poorer as they wake up earlier and earlier, and that is why it is easy to see grandparents who fall asleep very easily in any situation. .
In conclusion: Take care of your rest and your diet, to age better and as late as possible. If you want to consume foods rich in tryptophans, try animal proteins, dairy products, legumes, nuts and soy.