New technology revealed to help older people get a better night’s sleep

Monday 25 October 2010

The Somnia conference has been led by academics at the University of Surrey in conjunction with other academics including those working on new technology at the University of Bath.
Technology that can help older people get a more restful sleep is being developed by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering.

From the list of potential technologies four novel devices were designed and constructed, and further developed following comments and feedback from tests with older people:

• A pillow through which recorded music or spoken words could be played, or the sound from the TV or radio. These gentle sounds fade away after a while but the user can easily turn them on or off whenever they wanted through special controls. This both helps getting to sleep and also prevents TVs being played at high volumes in care homes.

• A bedside tray that holds items needed during the night such as glasses or a drink, and which automatically illuminates when the user reaches out to it.

• A novel stand-alone automatic bedroom light that both provides gentle background illumination if the user wishes to get out of bed, and low-level lighting when staff in a care home come into the bedroom. This enables the user to sleep in a dark room knowing lighting will be provided when they need it, and also helps care staff to provide checks without disturbance.

• A hand-held hearing aid that can be placed near residents ears at night in care homes so that staff can talk to them without shouting or putting their hearing aids back in.

Professor Roger Orpwood, of the University of Bath, commented: “Sleep is central to health and well-being, but as people get older, the quality of their sleep can deteriorate. Many older people are prescribed medications to help them sleep, but these can lead to problems, and we have been exploring the possible role that technology could play to help maintain and improve sleep. This is a really novel approach to supporting quality sleep in older people and the project has underlined the important role that technology could play.”

“We have been very keen to let older people themselves guide the kind of devices we have been developing”, commented Dr Bruce Carey-Smith, the lead researcher on the project. “We have been talking to care home staff and residents and people in their own homes to understand their sleep problems and to discuss with them possible ways technology might help” These discussions enabled a number of possible assistive devices to be identified.

Other technologies explored included looking at integrated sensing systems that could automatically check during the night whether care home residents were breathing okay, or whether they were wet, etc without staff having to disturb them.

“The work has shown that these technologies have the potential to make a real difference to older people’s sleep”, said Dr Carey-Smith.

The Bath work is part of a large multi-university project SomnIA (Sleep in Ageing) (www.somnia.surrey.ac.uk), led by the University of Surrey. The local work has built on the findings of other consortium members who have been investigating factors affecting the sleep of older people.

Professor Sara Arber from the University of Surrey, who leads the overall SomnIA project, said: “The researchers from Bath have undertaken innovative work developing important new devices to help older people sleep. Care home managers and staff are enthusiastic about these new devices that could play a major role in improving the sleep of residents in care homes.”
“As well as the development of these new devices, the SomnIA project has shown there are other ways of improving older people’s sleep including through greater exposure to bright light, the use of self-help Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-IT) and the creation of a website resource on ‘Sleep problems in later life’ (www.healthtalkonline.org).”

The one day conference: “Sleep, Well-Being and Active Ageing: New Evidence for Policy and Practice” to be held on Thursday 28th October 2010, Church House Conference Centre, Westminster, London (see http://www.somnia.surrey.ac.uk/conferences.html for further information about speakers and programme).

Notes for Editors:

Project Partners: Age UK, University of Oxford (Healthtalkonline, www.healthtalkonline.org), Philips Lighting, Nottinghamshire Health Care NHS Trust, Relatives and Residents Association

This four year Collaborative Research Project is funded under the New Dynamics of Ageing Initiative (NDA) (see http://www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/) by the five UK Research Councils (Arts and Humanities Research Council, Biology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economics and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council). The NDA initiative is a seven year research programme, and is the largest and most ambitious research programme on ageing ever mounted in the UK.
For further information on Somnia and the conference see: www.somnia.surrey.ac.uk
Media enquiries: Howard Wheeler, Media Relations Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: 01483 686141 or E-mail: h.wheeler@surrey.ac.uk
Contact the University of Bath Press Office on +44 (0)1225 386 319 or +44 (0)7966 341 431 or email press@bath.ac.uk.

Notes to Editors:
The University of Surrey is one of the UK’s leading professional, scientific and technological universities with a world class research profile and a reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Ground-breaking research at the University is bringing direct benefit to all spheres of life – helping industry to maintain its competitive edge and creating improvements in the areas of health, medicine, space science, the environment, communications, defence and social policy. Programmes in science and technology have gained widespread recognition and it also boasts flourishing programmes in dance and music, social sciences, management and languages and law. In addition to the campus on 150 hectares just outside Guildford, Surrey, the University also owns and runs the Surrey Research Park, which provides facilities for 140 companies employing 2,700 staff.

The Sunday Times names Surrey as ‘The University for Jobs' which underlines the university’s growing reputation for providing high quality, relevant degrees.
The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities. Our Mission is to deliver world class research and teaching, educating our graduates to become future leaders and innovators, and benefiting the wider population through our research, enterprise and influence. Our courses are innovative and interdisciplinary and we have an outstanding record of graduate employment. We are ranked in the UK top 15 of universities in The Guardian, Times, Sunday Times and Independent national tables.
Surrey and Bath are members of the 1994 Group of 19 leading research-intensive universities. The Group was established in 1994 to promote excellence in university research and teaching. Each member undertakes diverse and high-quality research, while ensuring excellent levels of teaching and student experience. www.1994group.ac.uk

Media Enquiries

Howard Wheeler, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 686141, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk