Here’s a new Ask Well article from the New York Times on the sleep difficulties of aging. We found the theories of why we develop sleep problems as we get older more interesting than the suggested solutions, which seem like common sense ideas that we’ve probably all tried. Many of the comments seemed to express the view that sleep disturbances are a normal part of aging that we just have to manage as best we can. Commenters made a variety of suggestions you might find helpful.
Our favorite trick, when we wake up at night and can’t turn the brain off, is to read for a bit. A book light is helpful to do this without disturbing one’s bed partner. After a half-hour to an hour of reading we can almost always fall back asleep for a few hours.
What works for you?
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