S<\/span>leep is one of the most powerful tools we have for optimizing our health, yet far too many of us aren\u2019t getting enough shuteye\u2014especially as we get older.<\/p>\n Thanks to normal, age-related changes to our body clock (aka our circadian rhythm), it can feel harder to fall and stay asleep. This may be why up to 60 percent of older adults report taking naps during the day, often to make up for poor sleep the night before.<\/p>\n The good news? There\u2019s a lot you can do to improve both the quality and the quantity of sleep you get, and the strategies that work aren\u2019t just the tired tips you\u2019ve heard a thousand times (like avoiding looking at your cell phone at night). Here\u2019s where to start.<\/p>\n Most adults need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep a day, according to the National Sleep Foundation. But it\u2019s important to realize that sleep needs vary from person to person. While your sister might genuinely function well on 6 or 7 hours of shut-eye, you might need 9 to feel your best.<\/p>\n How can you tell how much sleep you need?<\/p>\n The next time you\u2019re on vacation (or during a stretch of five or so days when you don\u2019t have to set an alarm), go to sleep when you feel tired and wake up without an alarm, and keep track of how many hours of sleep you average, says Shelby Harris, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in behavioral sleep medicine.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s not possible and you have to set an alarm clock to wake up, play around with your bedtime to see what feels best when it comes to hours of sleep. You\u2019ll know you\u2019ve hit your sweet spot when you wake up refreshed and feel energized throughout your day without having to reach for coffee or another caffeinated beverage in the afternoon as a pick-me-up.<\/p>\n Even more important than the blue light exposure you get from the TV and other screens before bed is what you\u2019re looking at on those screens, says Dr. Harris. \u201cIf you\u2019re doomscrolling or watching something that\u2019s going to stress you out or keep you hooked in\u2014like your social media feeds, which are meant to be addictive\u2014it\u2019s more likely to keep you awake longer than if you\u2019re watching something that relaxes you.\u201d<\/p>\n Melatonin is a powerful hormone that tells the body it\u2019s time to sleep and regulates the timing of your overall sleep-wake cycle. Inexpensive and easy to find, melatonin supplements are so ubiquitous these days that it can seem as if they\u2019re harmless. Yet sleep experts warn against taking them without consulting a medical professional. That\u2019s because you can\u2019t be sure how much of the synthetic hormone you\u2019re actually getting when you buy an OTC supplement.<\/p>\n In fact, one study found the concentration of melatonin in more than 70 percent of supplements varied widely from what the labels claimed (from 83 percent less melatonin than the amount listed to 478 percent more).<\/p>\n Thankfully, there\u2019s a lot you can do to help your body\u2019s own production of this important sleep hormone, says Emily Manoogian, PhD, a chronobiologist and clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Here\u2019s where to start:<\/p>\n Sleeping next to a significant other can be incredibly beneficial\u2014and in fact, it can create many positive emotional and physiological benefits that can help you sleep. However, if your bed partner is keeping you up at night (for example, if they snore), it could lead to sleep problems.<\/p>\n In fact, women who are partnered with a snorer are three times more likely to have insomnia compared with women who are paired with a nonsnorer. If you\u2019re struggling to get quality sleep when sleeping next to someone, you might consider sleeping separately\u2014what\u2019s being coined as a \u201csleep divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor many years, there was no science behind shared sleep, so we just followed the shoulds,\u201d says Wendy Troxel, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist, senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND, and author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple\u2019s Guide to Better Sleep<\/em>. \u201cMany of us thought, We\u2019re married, so we should sleep in the same bed. We\u2019re a couple, so we should go to bed and wake up at the same time. Now we know better.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re struggling to get quality sleep when sleeping next to someone, it\u2019s important to identify what your issues are and then talk about how you can share important ritual time in bed without forcing yourselves to sleep in the same bed or at the same time, says Dr. Troxel. Using \u201cI\u201d statements is key when you have this discussion. You might say, \u201cI\u2019m not sleeping well, and because of that, I can\u2019t be the partner I want to be.\u201d With a statement like that, you\u2019re not blaming or nagging; you\u2019re setting the tone for how to address this as a \u201cwe\u201d problem.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd while the term sleep divorce has become popular, what you\u2019re really doing is creating an alliance around sleep because it\u2019s so foundational to the quality of your relationship,\u201d adds Dr. Troxel.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s something you may find surprising: Wearable sleep trackers aren\u2019t actually capable of measuring the minute details of your sleep, like how many minutes of deep sleep you\u2019re getting each night. They measure how much we move around while we\u2019re sleeping, and sometimes heart rate and possibly a few other metrics, like body temperature. That information is then used to estimate whether you\u2019re asleep or awake. And while these trackers are pretty good at estimating, they\u2019re not good at knowing what type of sleep you\u2019re getting (light, deep, or REM) or how long you\u2019re staying in each sleep stage.<\/p>\n \u201cMy patients will often say things to me like, \u2018My wearable tells me I haven\u2019t had REM sleep for six weeks,\u2019 and I don\u2019t believe it, says Jennifer L. Martin, PhD, a sleep psychologist, researcher, and professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. \u201cWhere I think a sleep tracker is helpful is if you\u2019re wearing one for accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n Trying to stick to a regular sleep schedule? A wearable can hold you accountable to those goals. That said, if you start stressing out because of the poor sleep data your wearable is giving you and it\u2019s causing you to lose sleep (a condition that actually has a name, orthosomnia), Dr. Martin suggests taking it off.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is for these devices to help you stick to healthy sleep habits, not to mess with your quality or quantity of sleep,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Once you understand the many factors that can impact your ability to get a good night\u2019s rest and learn some of the evidence-based tactics proven to improve sleep, you can pinpoint the challenges getting in your way and start to implement changes that can help you get the shut-eye you need to feel your best.<\/p>\n Experts share simple changes that can transform your sleep\u2014starting tonight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[211,213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2026","category-winter-2026-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16897"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17143,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions\/17143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tip No. 1: Figure out how much sleep is ideal for you.<\/h3>\n
Tip No. 2: Be discerning about what you watch before bed.<\/h3>\n
Tip No. 3: Support your body\u2019s melatonin production without taking a supplement.<\/h3>\n
\n
Tip No. 4: Consider a \u201csleep divorce\u201d if necessary.<\/h3>\n
Tip No. 5: Take off that wearable that tracks your sleep if it\u2019s stressing you out.<\/h3>\n
Adapted from THE NEW RULES OF WOMEN\u2019S HEALTH: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age<\/em><\/a>, by Meghan Rabbitt. Published by The Open Field, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright 2026 by Meghan Rabbitt.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"