Sleep Look online and you’ll find plenty of tips on how to get a baby to sleep through the night, but how about getting yourself to sleep deeply until the sun rises?
Insomnia, an inability to get, or stay, asleep, is common among people aged over 60 and until recently it was thought this was due to a change in the way your body responds to light, making it less able to rest when needed, and/or a decreased need for sleep.
But according to a recent study published in the journal Sleep, the key to solving it is pretty much the same as for a tiny baby: routine.
Sticking to a regular pattern of behaviour during the day led to better sleep ability overall – study participants found it easier to fall asleep, and had better quality shut-eye too.
Breaking out of the routine, with activities such as a one-off shopping trip, travel or a doctor’s appointment, led to lower sleep quality.
The researchers, from the University of Haifa in Israel, identified weekly patterns in study participants' lives – including things like cleaning, exercise, social engagements, watching TV, reading and so on – and then analysed sleep quality in relation to the regularity of these activities.
This article was first published on April 12, 2010