Difficulties sleeping: a natural part of growing older?

Abstract

groups. For daytime tiredness, this pattern was similar, except that rates climbed steadily again, starting from the age of 70 years. When adjusted for cofactors such as socioeconomics, demographics, access to healthcare and overall health, this pattern became even stronger, with the highest rates in the youngest adults, an increase in middle age (especially in women) and a decline in older age. Interestingly, the rise in daytime tiredness in older adults was completely explained by these cofactors (rather than age itself). These results demonstrated that not only was there no notable increase in sleep-related complaints in older adults, there was a general decrease, with the highest rates in the youngest adults. Furthermore, these results showed that sleep complaints and, especially, daytime tiredness in older adults, can be largely explained by socioeconomic, health and mental health factors, rather than the process of aging per se. These findings are consonant with a growing