How age and daytime activities are related to insomnia in the general population: Consequences for older people

OBJECTIVES: To determine the role of activity status and social life satisf action on the report of insomnia symptoms and sleeping habits. DESIGN: Cross-sectional telephone survey using the Sleep-EVAL knowledge bas e system. SETTING: epresentative samples of three general populations (United Kingdom , Germany, and Italy). PARTICIPANTS: 13,057 subjects age 15 and older: 4,972 in the United Kingdom , 4,115 in Germany, and 3,970 in Italy. These subjects were representative of 160 million inhabitants. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical questionnaire on insomnia and investigation of assoc iated pathologies (psychiatric and neurological disorders). RESULTS: Insomnia symptoms were reported by more than one-third of the popu lation age 65 and older. Multivariate models she-wed that age was not a pre dictive factor of insomnia symptoms when controlling for activity status an d social life satisfaction. The level of activity and social interactions h ad no influence on napping, but age was found to have a significant positiv e effect on napping. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the aging process per se is not re sponsible for the increase of insomnia often reported in older people. Inst ead, inactivity, dissatisfaction with social life, and the presence of orga nic diseases and mental disorders were the best predictors of insomnia, age being insignificant. Healthy older people (i.e., without organic or mental pathologies) have a prevalence of insomnia symptoms similar to that observ ed in younger people. Moreover, being active and satisfied with social life are protective factors against insomnia at any age.