"Our findings that reports of better sleep are related to successful aging reinforce the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health," study author Sonia Ancoli-Israel of the University of California at San Diego said in a statement. "Healthcare professionals need to ask their patients -- of all ages -- about sleep and help those with poor sleep to find ways for improvement."

The researchers assessed the sleeping characteristics of 2,226 women age 60 or older -- including the use of sleeping aids, napping habits, awakening times, snoring, overall perceived sleep quality and sleep duration.

Ancoli-Israel said that 20.8 were categorized as "successful agers," and these were best predicted by less daytime napping and fewer sleep maintenance insomnia complaints.

Increased severity of sleep disturbance also predicted lower self-rated successful aging and a greater difference between perceived and actual age and this result again remained significant after controlling for depressive symptom severity.

The findings were presented in Baltimore at the 22nd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.