What is the most common sleep complaint in older adults?
Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint in older adults. Surveys indicate that 15 percent to 75 percent of elderly persons residing at home or in an extended care facility are dissatisfied with either the duration or the quality of their nocturnal sleep. Insomnia in older adults is usually multifactorial. In the long-term care setting, acute insomnia is transient and is related to environmental or psychologic stress, medication use, or exacerbation of an acute illness. Chronic insomnia (i.e., insomnia lasting longer than 3 weeks) is related to secondary illness, pain, chronic medication use, depression, poor sleep hygiene, or combinations of these factors. • Why is the prevalence of sleep disorders in the elderly so prevalent? Age-related sleep changes may partly explain the prevalence of sleep problems among long-term care residents. Changes in sleep are inevitable as people age, although evidence suggests that the major sleep changes associated with aging are secondary to disease
