Sleeping medication use is higher in older than younger adults, and is a risk factor for falls. Current evidence suggests that sleeping medications impair walking stability and cognitive performance in young and older adults during wakefulness; however, no study has examined walking stability and cognitive performance of young and older adults upon awakening from sleep at night after taking a hypnotic (sleeping medication). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether sleep inertia and hypnotic use impairs walking stability and cognitive performance more in healthy older than in healthy younger adults. It is expected that findings from the proposed study will provide evidence for sleep inertia as a risk factor for falls in older adults.