Dear LPG,

Now that I am older I don’t sleep as well as I used to, and I know that I am not alone in this because many of the friends that I have made, when visiting day centres and other social events, find this a subject for discussion. 

During many such sleep-based chats I have learned that I am not alone in finding that the inability to sleep is a problem that has developed as we older people have advanced in age.  The majority of people I have spoken to have the common comment that their attempts to sleep are interrupted by the need to get up to go to the loo more often during the night, and for some reason any pain that they have is much worse when they are trying to sleep.  

But as a result of not sleeping properly at night, our feelings of renewed appetite for the challenges of the day we are about to face the next morning are severely diminished and we get into the habit of nodding-off more often during the day, I for one, will take the time to watch my favourite TV soap and find that, having watched the opening credits, it is often the case that I next remember seeing the half-time adverts and  the ‘cliff-hanger’ at the end’.  I have to thank the Television companies for repeating them an hour later and during the weekends.  I am also aware of the fact that later evening viewing these days offers escapism via way of murder mysteries and reality programs (which my research-chats on the subject have proved to be relatively uninteresting to many of my older friends).  I have to say that I find the many late-night ghost stories and horror stories a pretty un-conducive prelude to a restful night’s sleep. 

I also notice that I dream a lot less than I used to and I wonder if I go to bed too early at night; especially during the winter months.  Is this because one way to avoid the cold, long and lonely winter nights is to tuck up warm in bed earlier at night, or could it  be that the short days and early onset of darkness makes it feel like bedtime a lot earlier?

I am sorry to say that I have lots of questions on the subject but not many answers.  Can I ask if any other reader can help there? 

AJ, Lewisham.

LPG took a look to see what Google has to offer on the subject and came up with the following… 

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Can we remind you that much of this information is from the USA but we are all basically the same?