Making sense of poor sleep

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Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Men aged 75+ >> Otto - Interview 36 >> Otto’s perfect night would be 8 hours of sleep uninterrupted, and he has read somewhere that that is the right amount.

Otto has been widowed for four years and has 2 children and one grandchild. Otto is a retired design engineer and was in the RAF during the second world war. Otto likes to keep active by walking a lot and also has an exercise bicycle. His main problems with sleep are that he finds he has to get up in the night to go to the toilet, and then finds he can’t get back to sleep, usually because he finds thoughts and worries go round and round his head.

Later life >> Sleep problems in later life >> Women aged 65-74 >> Margaret - Interview 32 >> Margaret bases her idea of a perfect night’s sleep on going to bed at 10 pm and getting up at 7 am, even though she has never had nine hours sleep.

Margaret is a retired Day Centre Manager and formerly a social worker. She spent long periods of her childhood in hospital where part of the routine was to put children outside in the fresh air. Margaret believes this still influences her now as she likes to wake up to daylight in her room. Margaret noticed her sleep started to worsen about 10-15 years ago, and used to worry about not having enough sleep, but has now found a way to cope and feels content with the amount of sleep she gets.

Making sense of poor sleep

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