Long-Term Care

New study links sleep duration and risk of falls

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, September 25, 2008

A recent study in the September 8 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine found that women 70 years and older who get five hours of sleep or less each night have a higher risk of falls than those who sleep seven to eight hours.

Independent of other risk factors for falls, such as body mass or use of sleep medication, the study found that, compared to women who slept seven to eight hours a night, those who slept five hours or less were about 47% more likely to suffer at least two falls during the 12-month period, according to The New York Times.

In the study, the sleep time of 2,978 women age 70 and older was monitored for a minimum of three consecutive 24-hour periods by an actigraph, a device worn on the wrist that measures motor activity. For the following year, subjects completed tri-annual questionnaires regarding fall frequency.

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