Dreaming of a good night's slumber? Elderly need to adapt to changing sleep patterns

You're not sleeping well. You're taking longer to drift off, snapping awake at 2 a.m., then finding it harder to sink back into slumber.

If you think this is normal when you're older, you're mistaken.

A decade's worth of scientific research shows that, yes, sleep changes in older adults. We get less deep sleep and less dream-filled shut-eye. Our biological clocks reset, leading us to bed earlier and to awake with the birds.

Aches and pains can keep us tossing and turning, as can medications we're taking. If we're women of a certain age, hot flashes and bathroom runs can be nightly annoyances. So it goes, also, for men with enlarged prostates.

But these sleep disturbances are treatable, experts say.

Most of the time, a change in sleep habits will do the trick. Drugs that help people sleep are recommended only if other strategies fail and only on a short-term basis.

"Growing older doesn't mean sleeping poorly, and sleep disturbances shouldn't be considered part and parcel of aging," says Michael Vitiello, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington.

Evidence-based recommendations for addressing sleep disorders in older adults, published late last year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, are the latest significant contribution to the science of sleep in seniors.

The guidelines encourage doctors to routinely ask older men and women about sleep problems. Patients should take responsibility, also, and bring up any complaints.

Research reports indicate that 57 percent of older adults experience sleep disruptions such as unsettling periodic limb movements (45 percent), insomnia (29 percent), obstructive sleep apnea (24 percent) and early-morning awakening (19 percent). Last year, a Gallup survey of more than 1,000 Americans age 50 or older found that 25 percent believed they had a "sleep problem."

A common cause of difficulties can be medications taken for other illnesses. Some of these drugs act as stimulants, making it difficult for a person to get shut-eye at night; some act as sedatives, causing excessive tiredness during the day.

People can minimize the impact by switching to another drug, changing the dose or simply shifting their medication schedule.