Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

The feeling of being tired or of wanting to nap often through the day is extremely common in older people.

Excessive daytime sleepiness often accompanies insomnia, but many people who do not describe insomnia do describe excessive daytime sleepiness.

Often, excessive daytime sleepiness has more than one cause. In addition to insomnia, a sedentary lifestyle and overall lack of physical fitness are common reasons older people feel sleepy during the day. Isolation and depression are also causes. Drugs are a common but under-recognized cause of excessive daytime sleepiness, as are cigarettes and alcohol.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can be caused by other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can also be a symptom of a physical disorder (such as anemia, kidney failure, or hypothyroidism).

An increase in social contacts and exercise during the day may keep an older person stimulated and less bothered by excessive daytime sleepiness. Treatment for insomnia can help those bothered by both sleep disorders. Sometimes methylphenidate or modafinil, drugs used to treat narcolepsy, is tried as treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness.