A new study has shown that normal sleep is related to healthy aging, thereby reinforcing the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health.

The study, authored by Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, of the University of California at San Diego, and colleagues, focused on 2,226 women 60 years of age or older.

Reports of use of sleeping aids, daytime somnolence, napping, sleep latency, sleep maintenance insomnia, early morning awakening, snoring, overall perceived sleep quality, and sleep duration were all assessed.

According to the results, 20.8 percent of the women were categorized as 'successful agers'. Items related to less daytime napping and fewer complaints of sleep maintenance insomnia best predicted successful aging.

There was no direct relationship between use of sedative-hypnotics and successful aging. Increased severity of sleep disturbance also predicted lower self-rated 'successful aging' and a greater difference between perceived and actual age, and this result again remained significant after controlling for depressive symptom severity.

'Our findings that reports of better sleep are related to successful aging reinforce the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health,' said Dr Ancoli-Israel.

'Health care professionals need to ask their patients -- of all ages -- about sleep and help those with poor sleep to find ways for improvement.'

Unfortunately, many older adults often get less sleep than they need. One reason is that they often have more trouble falling asleep. A study of adults over 65 found that 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.

Also, older people often sleep less deeply and wake up more often throughout the night, which may be why they may nap more often during the daytime.

Night-time sleep schedules may change with age too. Many older adults tend to get sleepier earlier in the evening and awaken earlier in the morning.

Not sleeping well can lead to a number of problems. Older adults who have poor night-time sleep are more likely to have a depressed mood, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more night-time falls and use more over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids.

The study was presented at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).