Safely and Effectively Managing Sleep Maintenance Insomnia in Older Adults

Program Overview

Sleep maintenance insomnia is the most common form of sleep disturbance encountered and carries the greatest personal and societal burden, especially in older adults. Despite this, there is a huge unmet need associated with managing sleep maintenance insomnia, as shorter-acting agents are ineffective in maintaining sleep and longer-acting agents, especially those that act on the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor, result in next-day residual and hangover effects, which place older adults at risk for falls. Recently, new agents have begun to emerge that act on orexin receptors and have been demonstrated to have fewer residual effects. Clinicians need to be aware of these, and their distinct mechanism of action, so that sleep maintenance insomnia sufferers are more optimally treated with fewer risks of side effects. In this activity, you will learn about the impact and management of sleep maintenance insomnia, including current approaches, as well as novel and emerging treatments.

Credit Expired

Target Audience

This activity has been designed to meet the educational needs of healthcare providers, including psychiatry physicians, PAs, and NPs who diagnose and manage older adult patients with sleep maintenance insomnia.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

  • Describe current challenges associated with managing sleep maintenance insomnia, especially in older and elderly patients
  • Utilize currently available and emerging treatments to manage sleep maintenance insomnia, including those that avoid residual next-day effects, especially in older and elderly populations

Activity Faculty

Russell P. Rosenberg, PhD, DABSM

Founder and Director
Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and Technology
Atlanta, GA

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