The good news is you will get to sleep more as you get to that retirement age. The bad news is that sleeping problems are expected to worsen as you reach this age. With these two things in mind, you may be asking if growing old is indeed something great to look forward to.

Apparently, these are health related. The abuses our bodies have had in the years of our lives are contributory marks towards getting good sleep. But while we yearn for good sleep once we reach these latter ages, perhaps it would be best to assess ourselves at this point to see how our future holds for us realistically.

One report finds persistent insomnia can lead to depression in the elderly, especially in those getting standard care for depression in primary care settings. The study looked at 1,801 elderly patients aged 60 or older with major depression. It shows patients with persistent insomnia were 1.8 to 3.5 times more likely to remain depressed compared with patients without insomnia.

Another new study finds older people with cognitive impairment are more likely to have sleep problems. The 102 participants were between the ages of 59 and 96, had a clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment, slept an average of seven hours or less each night, and slept during the day for 30 minutes or longer. Results show 21.6 percent of them had at least one painful condition and 45.1 percent were diagnosed with depression.

(Source) Medical Breakthroughs

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