inrupted sleep, these changes usually do not interfere with the quality of sleep. Changes in sleep architecture may become problematic, however, in the context of illness (both medical and psychiatric) predisposing the older adult to develop insomnia. Heart and respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic pain, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and depression have been shown to adversely affect sleep, ei- ther as a direct result or because of medications used in treatment. Patients who have Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases also experience difficulty sleeping. In fact, when older persons with poor sleep accompanying physical ill- ness, medication use, or psychiatric history are screened, older adults have a much lower incidence of sleep com- plaints, perhaps as few as 3%.5