LIGHT TREATMENT FOR SLEEP DISORDERS - CONSENSUS REPORT .5. AGE-RELATED DISTURBANCES

Sleep maintenance insomnia is a major complaint among the elderly. As a result, an inordinate proportion of sleeping pill prescriptions go t o individuals over 65 y of age. Because of the substantial problems as sociated with use of hypnotics in older populations, efforts have been made to develop nondrug treatments for age-related sleep disturbance, including timed exposure to bright light. Such bright light treatment s are based on the assumption that age-related sleep disturbance is th e consequence of alterations in the usual temporal relationship betwee n body temperature and sleep. Although studies are limited, results st rongly suggest that evening bright light exposure is beneficial in all eviating sleep maintenance insomnia in healthy elderly subjects. Less consistent, but generally positive, findings have been reported with r egard to bright light treatment of sleep and behavioral disturbance in demented patients. For both groups, it is likely that homeostatic fac tors also contribute to sleep disturbance, and these may be less influ enced by bright light interventions.