Insomnia

Insomnia can be caused by a number of things, including physical and mental conditions and stress. Insomnia is the feeling that you can't get enough sleep because of difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting back to sleep once you awaken during the night. Insomnia happens to all of us occasionally. If it persists for more than a month it is important to get it diagnosed and treated so that it doesn't become a chronic problem.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep disorders (e.g., sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome) become more prevalent with age. Sleep apnea affects 4 percent of middle-aged men and two percent of middle-aged women. But, sleep apnea affects 28 percent of older men and 24 percent of older females. Most people with sleep apnea don't know they have the disorder and so it frequently goes untreated. Sleep apnea is a disorder caused by obstruction of the airway that causes breathing to stop, oxygen levels to drop. and then the individual awakens briefly before the cycle repeats.

Depression

Often, unrecognized depression is a source of sleep problems. Older adults who received high scores for depression were three to four times as likely to have difficulty falling asleep or waking too early, and two times as likely to wake up frequently as those with lower scores.

Older adults are more likely to have health problems that interfere with sleep such as an enlarged prostate and arthritis.

Older adults may be taking medications for chronic illness that can cause insomnia or disrupt sleep. Some of the most common ones are shown in the following table.

Common Drugs That Can Cause Insomnia
Drug Classification	Medication
Hormones	Oral contraceptives, Progesterone, Thyroid, Cortisone
Bronchodilators	Theophylline, Isuprel
Neurologic drugs	Phenytoin, Levodopa
Cardiovascular drugs	Inderal, Aldomet, Hydrodiuril, Lasix, Quinidine
Cold, allergy and asthmatic drugs	Pseudophed, Theodur
CNS Stimulants	Nicotine, Amphetamines, Cocaine, Nicotine
Stimulating Antidepressants	Wellbutrin, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft
Over-the-counter pain and cold relievers containing caffeine	Anacin, Excedrin, Empirin
Gastrointestinal drugs	Tagamet
Alcohol	Wine, Beer, Liquor

As you can see, there are many reasons that sleep problems are more common among older adults. Usually, older persons stay in bed longer to compensate. However, persistent trouble falling asleep and staying asleep is not normal or inevitable with aging. It is important to get sleep problems evaluated before they result in chronic insomnia.

 

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