Insomnia is a major health enemy of the middle-aged and elderly population! Long-term insomnia can accelerate the aging rate and easily cause multi-organ dysfunction. Relevant information shows that middle-aged and elderly people who suffer from insomnia for years are prone to hypertension, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, senile dementia, neurasthenia, ulcer disease, anxiety, mental tension and shortened life expectancy. Long-term insomnia, especially in elderly people with coronary heart disease and arrhythmia, can easily lead to sudden death after sleepless nights. American researchers investigated the sleep of more than one million adults and found that the annual mortality rate of the elderly group of men over 60 years old, such as seven to eight hours of sleep a day, is about 40%; if less than four hours, the mortality rate rises to more than 60% on average. It can be said that insomnia has become the main killer of the health of middle-aged and elderly people. Sleeping pills, not a life-saver Some elderly people have to rely on Valium to hypnotize them due to serious insomnia, and over time Valium has become a “good friend”, this phenomenon is very common in the middle-aged and elderly friends. Many people think that it is okay to take more sleeping drugs, but in fact, long-term use of sleeping pills can form dependence and even addiction. Most of the sleeping pills in the body are metabolized by the liver and kidneys, long-term use will increase the burden on the liver and kidneys, and some may cause liver enlargement, liver pain, swelling, proteinuria, hematuria and abdominal distension, loss of appetite, constipation and other liver and kidney function damage and gastrointestinal reactions. As the liver and kidney function of the elderly decreases with age, taking sleeping pills casually can cause liver and kidney failure, produce drug resistance, and even induce other diseases. Therefore, the elderly should be more careful with the application of tranquilizers. The general principle of using sedative-hypnotic drugs for the elderly is to use the lowest effective dose and the shortest time, and to individualize the administration of drugs. Long-term use may lead to reduced efficacy and dependence, and is generally appropriate for no more than 4 weeks. For long-term use of drugs for the elderly, do not forcibly withdraw the drug, when you need to reduce the dose of drugs, should take a step-by-step method of decreasing, to prevent sleep disorders or rebound phenomenon. The heart and kidneys do not intersect, and water does not help fire and sleeplessness According to Chinese medicine, the heart and kidneys are the residence of water and fire. The heart is the main blood vessel and collects the spirit, the kidney is the main water and collects the essence, the spirit is in harmony, the water and fire are in harmony with the yin and yang and sleep is normal. Older people have insufficient kidney yin and cannot serve the heart, water does not help fire, then the heart is hyperactive, “fire does not return to the root”; or five will be too extreme, the heart fire within the incandescent, can not be handed down to the kidneys, heart and kidney out of fellowship, heart fire is hyperactive, heat disturbs the mind, the mind is restless and sleepless. As Jing Yue Quan Shu says: “The deficiency of true yin essence and blood, the lack of intercourse between yin and yang, and the restlessness of the mind in its room.” For this type of insomnia, the main treatment is to “induce fire to return to the root and the heart and kidneys to intersect”. Kidney yin deficiency fire type insomnia is commonly disturbed insomnia, fatigue, lumbar and knee weakness, night sweating, urine short red, red tongue with little coating, pulse count, treatment should be nourishing yin to lower the fire and calm the mind, can use Huang Lian, white peony 20 grams each, wash, boiled in water and add 30 grams of Agaricus, steam over water, will become paste, put 2 egg yolks, mix well, take once a day before bedtime. In this formula, Huang Lian is bitter and clears the heart fire; Bai Shao nourishes Yin and astringes the mind; Gum nourishes blood and nourishes the heart; chicken yolk nourishes Yin and clears heat, and several flavors work together to clear the heart fire and nourish the kidney water. You can also use lily, lotus seed meat 20 grams each, lean pork 100 grams, cut into small pieces, cooked until rotten, add salt to mix the food. The actual fact is that you will find a lot of people who have a lot of problems with frequent urination, many men also have prostate hypertrophy and prostate hyperplasia, so many elderly men rarely drink water before bedtime, worrying about the number of times they get up, affecting their sleep. Older people, due to reduced kidney concentration function, urination brings out more water, which may lead to water shortage in the body. And water shortage and coronary heart attacks are inextricably linked, angina pectoris and myocardial infarction occur mostly in sleep or in the morning, in addition to the night vagus nerve tension increases, so that the coronary artery spasm and other factors, but also because after a night of whistling, sweating, urination, the loss of a large amount of water, so that the blood concentration, the relative narrowing of the coronary artery lumen, or blood through the concentration of the formation of thrombus, resulting in acute myocardial insufficiency of blood supply Or local myocardial necrosis, which will increase the risk of causing myocardial infarction, and be more careful. Therefore, the elderly need to be properly hydrated before bedtime, be aware that tea is not suitable for drinking before bedtime, because tea has a diuretic effect, drink instead will discharge more water than drink down, causing the opposite effect. Therefore, the elderly, to adjust their lives, to develop a regular work and rest, to ensure adequate sleep time.