Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which conducted on 100 men and women over 60 years old who were selected among four active retirement centers in Tabriz, Iran in 2010. A questionnaire consisting of four sections was used for data collection. Data was gathered on socio-demographic, personal, environmental and nutritional- pharmaceutical factors of sleep hygiene. Overall sleep hygiene was considered to be as optimal if the score of three domains was between 119 and 177, moderate with score 60- 118 and unfavorable with score 0-59. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: Most participants (74%) claimed that they wake up frequently during the night. Sleep hygiene in 16% of the participants was optimal and in 84% was moderate. Regarding personal, environmental and nutritional- pharmaceutical factors, sleep hygiene in 18%, 16% and 54% of the samples was optimal respectively. There was a significant relationship between gender, marital status, number of household, the amount of revenue, marital life satisfaction with sleep hygiene in the elderly (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The findings revealed that only small number of participants enjoyed sleep hygiene. Considering the optimal impact of sleep hygiene and its importance in fixing sleep disorders, improving sleep hygiene through educational programs can decrease the sleep disorders and improve the quality of life.