Is Good Sleep the Key to a Happy, Healthy Retirement?

O sleep, O gentle sleep,

Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down

And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

This oft-quoted passage from William Shakespeare’s famous history play Henry IV sees an exhausted and guilt-ridden King Henry IV envy how easily his subjects sleep while he, burdened by his crown, suffers from severe insomnia. The Bard wrote the scene as a warning about the heavy weight of ill-gotten gains, but as it turns out, there’s also a message in there for modern-day retirees. 

“There’s an increasing amount of scientific evidence pointing to the importance of good sleep hygiene to cognitive health in retirement,” said Mike Lynch, managing director of applied insights at Hartford Funds. “Your portfolio matters, of course, but your most important asset is your brain. We think more advisors should be helping their clients adopt a lifestyle that supports healthy brain aging.”

Bye Bye, Brain Trash 

Hartford Funds recently tapped neuroscience researcher Marc Milstein to build a client education initiative called “Retain Your Brain.” The program provides science-based lifestyle strategies to help investors protect cognitive health, lower dementia risks and navigate longevity planning. “It’s been such an interesting collaboration,” Lynch said. “The big message for advisors out there is that the costs of an unhealthy brain can be significant.” 

By the numbers: 

• The average lifetime cost of dementia is about $393,000, per data from the Alzheimer’s Association. 
• Costs include medical expenses, caregiving, home modifications, lost income, legal fees and end-of-life care. 

So, what can retirees do to help them avoid brain-related health problems? “Maintaining close social connections and staying physically active are a big deal, but consistently getting good sleep is actually on top of the list,” Lynch said.

Modern science has demonstrated that brain cells are like a bustling city, and just as a city gets dirty, the brain does too, filling with residual waste from chemical reactions, environmental toxins and damaged cells. Normally, this “brain trash” is flushed out during periods of deep sleep, but if one frequently suffers from poor sleep, cardiovascular disease or acute brain trauma, the trash can build up. That buildup, in turn, heightens the risk of both mild cognitive decline and more serious diseases like Alzheimer’s. 

Healthier for Longer. No amount of social connection or REM sleep can completely eliminate the risk of mental decline, but the science suggests healthy habits can meaningfully postpone its onset. “If there’s anything we can do to maintain a healthy brain, we should be interested in doing that, both for financial reasons and for quality of life,” Lynch said. “People may even want to consider working longer to remain connected and give themselves additional time to save and invest as a hedge against the cost of cognitive decline later on.”