ABSTRACT
OVERVIEW A growing number of older adults reside in nursing homes. Residents of nursing homes commonly suffer from nighttime sleep disruption, which is often accompanied by daytime sleepiness andmay be caused by amultitude of factors. In the nursing home setting, sleep disturbance is associated with negative health outcomes, including higher risk of falling and elevated mortality risk. Factors contributing to sleep disturbance in the nursing home setting include medical and psychiatric illnesses and medications, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and other primary sleep disorders, circadian rhythm abnormalities, environmental conditions (e.g., nighttime noise), and lifestyle habits. Based on research with older adults in the community and work conducted within nursing home settings, pharmacotherapy cannot be universally recommended and some nonpharmacological treatments are shown to be effective. Further research on the implementation of practices that promote healthy sleep patterns within the nursing home setting is still needed.
