Sleep Problems Linked With Increased Risk Of Suicide In Older Adults
August 14, 2014
It's a popular misconception that older adults need less sleep. Actually, our need for shuteye doesn't diminish with age at all. If anything, the quality of our sleep appears to be even more important as we age. And a new study has found that a lot of tossing and turning in the middle of the night may actually have a very dangerous risk factor attached to it.

Problems sleeping have been linked with increased risk of suicide in the elderly, according to new research published in the Journal of American Medicine Association today. These findings bridge the gap between previous studies, which have already shown that older adults suffer from both poor sleep and higher suicide rates.

Rebecca A. Bernert, PhD, director of the Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory at Stanford University, looked at 420 adults with an average age of 75. Utilizing in-person interviews and self-reported data in her 10-year study, Bernert found that difficulty falling asleep and non-restorative sleep put subjects at 1.4 times greater risk for suicide -- 1.2 when controlled for depression, which is still a statistically significant finding.

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Posted by Ken at 4:50 AM