Myths of aging–sleep

As every sleep researcher knows, the surest way to hear complaints about sleep is to ask the elderly.
“Older people complain moreabout their sleep; they just do,” said Dr. Michael Vitiello, a sleepresearcher who is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington.  Andfor years, sleep scientists thought they knew what was going on: sleepstarts to deteriorate in late middle age and steadily erodes from thenon. It seemed so obvious that few thought to question the prevailingwisdom.  Now, though, new research is leading many to change theirminds. To researchers’ great surprise, it turns out that sleep does notchange much from age 60 on. And poor sleep, it turns out, is notbecause of aging itself, but mostly because of illnesses or themedications used to treat them.  “The more disorders olderadults have, the worse they sleep,” said Sonia Ancoli-Israel, aprofessor of psychiatry and a sleep researcher at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego. “If you look at older adults who are veryhealthy, they rarely have sleep problems.”

More, in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/health/23age.html

Then check out this cool resource–the Times Guide to Sleep Disorders in the Elderly,
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/sleep-disorders-in-the-elderly/overview.html