Sleeping problems in the elderly are more than likely to manifest in a particular pattern, depending on the health of the person, and the prescription drugs they may be taking for their health problems.The quality of their sleep may change considerably, either because of less demands on their energy as a result of retirement, or through illness.
Illness disrupts sleep patters in the elderly, and may result in increased awakenings due to physical discomfort.Urinary urgency, cramps, angina,chronic obstructive airways disease,and left ventricular failure may be some of the many illnesses which cause sleep problems in the elderly.
An elderly person may become very anxious about a change in their sleep pattern, however, it will be necessary to thoroughly investigate the problem in order to ascertain if this perceived sleeping problem, causes dysfunction in their waking activities.If the elderly person has a carer, or lives with family then the problem may be easier to assess, for what appears to be a problem may only be a normal change in sleep pattern for the age.
The most frequently occurring sleep problem in the elderly appears to be sleep latency, the...