Sleep

My 88-year-old husband was prescribed Ambien for insomnia. After the first dose, he fell while getting up to go to the bathroom, gashed his head and had to go to the emergency room for stitches. A year later, I gave him a half-dose (again prescribed), and within minutes, his legs collapsed on him. I had the hardest time getting him into bed. Ambien? Never again! Your experience reminds us that sleeping pills may pose a serious risk for older people who have to get up at night to go to the bathroom.

It's a universal truth: When you're in your 20s, you can stay out all night and look fresh the next morning. Unfortunately, as we age, lack of sleep affects us more deeply and shows more prominently on our faces -- lackluster complexions, dark circles, fine lines and, in more extreme cases, rashes and eczema. Progressive loss of cellular water may be one reason sleepless nights affect our skin more visibly as we age, says board-certified dermatologist Dr. Howard Murad. Water retention is key to keeping skin moisturized and supple, which can translate to fewer lines and a smoother complexion.

Anna Nicole Smith consumed increasing amounts of a rare sleep aid in the months after her son's death, eventually drinking the powerful liquid sedative straight from the medicine bottle, her former bodyguard testified Wednesday. The drug, chloral hydrate, was cited as the primary cause of Smith's fatal overdose the following year and her bodyguard said the model often carried a bottle of the drug as she grieved for her son. "I saw her use a spoon maybe twice and after that it was bottle to mouth -- gulp," said Maurice Brighthaupt, a Miami firefighter who moonlighted as Smith's security guard.