Many older adults have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.
They awaken often during the night, can t get back to sleep, and rise before dawn, symptoms that can cause daytime fatigue, impair normal functioning, and increase health-care costs. Some 12 to 25 percent of healthy seniors report chronic insomnia, but despite their weariness, less than 15 percent receive treatment. Now National Institute of Mental Health-funded research appearing in the March 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that insomnia in later years is treatable. By changing habits and attitudes, older adults can sleep better and longer, the study reports. Seventy-eight adults with insomnia, including 50 women and 28 men, participated in the study.