Fred often finds it difficult to get to sleep. He also finds that if he wakes up in the night he finds it takes a long time to get back to sleep. Sometimes he comes downstairs and has a cigarette in the back garden before trying to go back up and get to sleep. Fred noticed his sleep changed after he retired and feels this may be because he isn't quite as active.

Peter sometimes finds it difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep because of a shoulder injury and lower back pain. He only very occasionally dozes off during the day, but sometimes might if he has been active, or has gone for a long run. Peter feels that there are times in his life when he has more to worry about, and this will most likely affect how he sleeps.

Carol has noticed her sleep has changed as she has got older. In particular she now finds she has to get up to go to the toilet in the night, sometimes as often as six times, which she finds very disturbing. Now Carol is retired, she finds her days vary from being very full and busy to having little planned, and she wonders whether she doesn't sleep so well on the days when she has been less active.

Dessie feels her sleep has got a lot worse, especially since she lost her husband. She finds she sometimes wakes up in the very early hours of the morning and can't get back to sleep at all. Dessie is very active and likes to keep herself very busy, working in the garden, visiting friends and helping her family.

P. has been retired for 35 years but still continues to undertake research and has published more than 30 papers since his retirement. He likes to try and be active as much as he can during the day and doesn't like to doze off in the evening because he feels that is a waste of time. He does sometimes have difficulty getting off to sleep, but finds that reading a book often helps with this.

John feels that a good night's sleep for him would be about 7 hours, and the amount of sleep he gets is important to him, even if it is interrupted. Currently John feels he only gets about 5 to 6 hours sleep and would like to get more, but would not seek help from his doctor until he felt lack of sleep impacted on whether he could drive safely. John tries to avoid sleeping during the day because he feels it will impact on how well he sleeps at night.

Anne is a retired Education Adviser, but is still working part-time writing a book. Anne likes to play golf at least once a week, but has recently had some injuries which have prevented this. She also likes to keep active by walking. Anne finds she now wakes up early in the morning and would very much like to be able to sleep in for longer.

Roy has been retired for some time, but is an active member of the local U3A group (University of the Third Age) and likes to take long walks. He frequently visits his older brother who lives nearby. Roy has had trouble sleeping for many years, but has now found a routine for getting to sleep that he feels works well for him.

Mike works part-time as a test centre administrator. He has noticed a change in his sleep as he has got older, noticeably that he has periods of deeper sleep, but he doesn't believe he sleeps any longer than he used to. Mike noticed his sleep changed when he first had children, and finds that pattern has continued.

Valerie often wakes up in the night and can't get back to sleep. This means she will be very tired by the early evening, but will try not to go to bed too early because she doesn't want to waste the evening.