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Psychological adjustment, lifestyle, and sleep parameters were investigated in 634 older community residents. Participants were divided into three categories: good sleepers, poor sleepers experiencing high distress, and poor sleepers experiencing minimal distress. Results indicate that (1) highly distressed poor sleepers manifested an anxious, depressed, negative cognitive-affective set; (2) many coped well with age related changes in sleep quality--they resembled good sleepers in the relative absence of psychological maladjustment they displayed; (3) the three groups had similar lifestyles, but they differed in the cognitive-affective evaluation of their activities, (4) the insomnia complaint is itself multifaceted and is comprised of three distinct elements--difficulty sleeping, distress, and daytime fatigue; (5) sleep practices (e.g., naps, bedtimes) are not implicated in chronic poor sleep; and (6) many commonly held assumptions about sleep disruptions in older individuals are myth rather than reality. Implications for better understanding and treating insomnia in older individuals are discussed.

Time estimation was examined in 148 older good and poor sleepers in analogue and naturalistic sleep settings. On analogue tasks, both "empty" time and time listening to an audiobook were overestimated by both good and poor sleepers. There were no differences between groups. "Empty" time was experienced as "dragging." In the sleep setting, most poor sleepers underestimated nocturnal sleep and overestimated awake times related to their own sleep problem: sleep onset vs. sleep maintenance insomnia. Good sleepers did the opposite. Severity of sleep problem and size of time estimation errors were unrelated. Greater night-to-night wake time variability was experienced by poor than by good sleepers. Psychological adjustment was unrelated to time estimations and to magnification or minimization of sleep problems. The results suggest that for poor sleepers who magnify their sleep problem, self-monitoring can be of benefit by demonstrating that the sleep problem is not as severe as believed.