Sleep & Healthy Aging

Sleep is essential to well-being, quality of life, and overall health. Although many older individuals have normal sleep patterns, for others, problems with sleep are common. Sleep disorders are often associated with serious medical and psychiatric diseases, and can result in significant morbidity and even mortality.

Advancing Awareness and Understanding

The Sleep & Health Aging Project advances the awareness and understanding among health professionals and the public of the importance of sleep in older adults. With the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, sleep has been a focus area at the International Longevity Center-USA (ILC-USA) for several years. Below are several of our most important initiatives.

National Coalition for Sleep Disorders in Older People

In an effort to ensure the proper care of older adults with sleep disorders, the ILC-USA joined forces with thirteen leading aging, geriatric, and sleep organizations to develop comprehensive guidelines on how to diagnose and manage sleep disorders in older adults. Learn more about the Coalition

Consensus Conferences

In November 2005, we hosted a consensus conference on Sleep & Healthy Aging. Included among its findings were:

• sleep can be viewed as a new vital sign
• primary sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are common and treatable
• clinicians often pay too little attention to sleep-related problems and routinely ignore sleep complaints
• behavioral/psychological interventions have been shown to be very effective in the treatment of insomnia
• the potential benefits and risks associated with daytime napping are controversial
• troubled sleep in older individuals is highly related to diminished quality of life

In December 2006, we hosted a second consensus conference, this time specifically looking at Sleep & Chronic Disease in Older People. This conference focused on the most challenging of all groups of older patients—those with chronic diseases, multiple co-morbidities, and taking multiple medications. This is a large and rapidly growing group, and very likely has the highest prevalence of sleep disorders, including insomnia. A report for this conference is forthcoming.

Gallup Survey

Prior to the Sleep & Healthy Aging Conference conference we commissioned a survey with Gallup documenting older adults' awareness and attitudes on a range of issues, including the importance of sleep, sleep behavior and coping mechanisms, and attitudes toward sleep and aging.

The Gallup Organization interviewed 1,003 Americans 50 years of age and older via random telephone surveys and the results are nationally representative of all adults age 50 and older.
View the complete survey findings

Publications & Media Coverage

The Sleep and Healthy Aging Project has been actively attempting to push our research into the public discourse, receiving citations or mentions in numerous media outlets, including:

• Chicago Tribune & Central Dupage Hospital News: Getting a Full Night's Sleep
• Sleep Problems Plague the Older Set, in US News and World Report, The Washington Post, iVillage, Forbes.com, and AOL.
• WebMD: What Steals Sleep Later in Life?
• Scripps Howard News: Older people need their sleep too, physicians say
• Arizona Republic: Unsound Sleep
• Tulsa Free Press: Seniors' Fears Often Aggravated After Sun Goes Down
• Eons.com: What's Keeping you Awake at Night?

For a complete list of our publications on sleep, please visit our Publications area. To view all topics tagged "sleep", click here.