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• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Making sense of poor sleep >> Making sense of poor sleep

Making sense of poor sleep

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• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Women aged 65-74 >> Carol - Interview 18 >> Carol has noticed she wakes up more in the night now she is older, and sometimes gets up to have tea and toast.

Carol has noticed her sleep has changed as she has got older. In particular she now finds she has to get up to go to the toilet in the night, sometimes as often as six times, which she finds very disturbing. Now Carol is retired, she finds her days vary from being very full and busy to having little planned, and she wonders whether she doesn’t sleep so well on the days when she has been less active.

• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Women aged 75+ >> Daphne - Interview 29 >> Daphne has read somewhere that older people don’t need so much sleep.

Daphne has been retired for a few years, but has had a variety of very interesting professions, such as officer in the WAAF, fashion model and actress. On the whole she finds she sleeps well, but would like to have more than the five or six hours she currently has. Daphne believes sleep is very important, but would only really be concerned if she felt she couldn’t get to sleep.

• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Men aged 65-74 >> Ronald - Interview 01 >> Ronald sees falling asleep in the evening in front of the television as natural, but would be concerned if he started napping during the day.

Ronald finds he usually gets about 6 ½ to 7 hours sleep a night, but this is disturbed by having to get up and go to the toilet. Although he usually drops off to sleep straight away, occasionally he finds he can’t get to sleep, or wakes up in the night and can’t get back to sleep, so on these occasions he tries counting sheep, but this doesn’t always work. Ronald noticed a change in his sleep pattern when he took early retirement because of health problems, and the change in his daily routine.

• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Men aged 65-74 >> Ronald - Interview 01 >> Ronald retired early because of health problems, and noticed a change in his sleep then because of a change in his daily routine.

Ronald finds he usually gets about 6 ½ to 7 hours sleep a night, but this is disturbed by having to get up and go to the toilet. Although he usually drops off to sleep straight away, occasionally he finds he can’t get to sleep, or wakes up in the night and can’t get back to sleep, so on these occasions he tries counting sheep, but this doesn’t always work. Ronald noticed a change in his sleep pattern when he took early retirement because of health problems, and the change in his daily routine.

• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Women aged 65-74 >> Jacqui - Interview 35 >> Jacqui, who does shift work, notices that she finds it harder to recover from a shift now she is older.

Jacqui lives with her partner and works part-time as a care worker. She slept well as a child, but noticed a dramatic change in her sleep when she became a stewardess, and when she got married. She believes the different shifts she worked and jet lag caused a change in her sleeping pattern. Eventually she went to the doctor for some mild sleeping tablets, which she took occasionally over the years. Currently Jacqui is sleeping much better and has not taken any sleeping tablets for a few years.

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• Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Sleep problems in later life

Publication date:  9th November 2009          Review date: under review

 

Sleep is important for health and well-being but it is increasingly recognised that sleep quality declines with age, and many older people experience trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep, and waking early. We interviewed 33 people about their experiences of poor sleep. Select from the six key topics below, choose from the 'Full list of topics', or explore all the interviews.