Sleep Challenges of Seniors

Sleep challenges of seniors are frequent topics of conversation. Most of us have experienced the occasional bout of insomnia, but many senior citizens find it increasingly persistent as they get older. In this episode, Richard vividly documents a recent bout of insomnia that kept him up for several hours in the middle of the night. He reports that he used to sleep like a baby until he hit his mid-70s.

We shouldn't be surprised that the sleep challenges of seniors are so prevalent. Research indicates that as many as 40% of older people suffer from insomnia. Dealing with the after-effects of losing several hours of sleep can take the luster off your golden years. The obvious impacts are easy to spot and include fatigue and a sense of being in a fog, but the health and behavioral consequences are equally concerning.

While completely eliminating regular bouts of insomnia is often not possible, there are tools available to reduce their impact. Sometimes they can even prevent a night of sleeplessness. Many sleep specialists recommend developing and following good pre-sleep habits. Others suggest setting your iPad or Android tablet to "night mode" when reading in the evening. Some folks even find ingesting a cannabis gummy allows them to get a good night's rest. The old codgers, especially Richard, encourage their senior citizen peers to make a commitment to investigate and try some of these practices to see if it helps. We offer more sleep tips for seniors in our blog.

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