It is supposedly a very old, very safe drug - for sleep low dose is the key as it is sedating at 7.5, maybe up to 15mg but after that point the appetite stimulate and anti-depressant factors come into play and it can actually be stimulating. We don't want weight gain and if we are not depressed we would not want higher doses! I'm 65, so we are in the same boat - not a lot of "safe" sleep meds for us.