Does Sleep Changes with Age?
Written by clive on 12:43 PMIt was once thought that you needed more sleep as you get older. Now we know that once you reach adulthood, the amount of sleep you require varies only a little as you age.
However, the pattern of sleep does change. The older person often sleeps more lightly. As the body ages, the quality of sleep usually deteriorates - sleep becomes lighter, less efficient, and less restful. There is a gradual decrease in delta sleep, the deepest sleep, the part of sleep most associated with growth and bodily recovery. By around age 50 for men and 60 for women, there is much less of the deep delta sleep, sometimes none, so that people at these ages and older are more easily aroused by noises or other outside factors that younger people might sleep through.
Although the length of sleep time in a healthy person does not decrease more than about 30 minutes from about age 20 to about age 75, the incidence of sleep problems does increase. Sleep is more disturbed and sleep time is lost because of interruptions. This means that you may spend more time in bed and may think you sleep longer, but your sleep frequently is interrupted by brief periods of wakefulness.
Some older people have hundreds of short awakenings at night, lasting 15 seconds or less. Sometimes, these little awakenings give you the impression that you've been awake all night, even though you haven't been. Sometimes, just knowing that this is possibility helps you to be more relaxed about your sleep. Older persons also may take more naps during the day, which causes them to be even more wakeful at night.
Remember, the amount and quality of your sleep are usually normal if it seems so to you and if yor daytime efficiency and alertness are not decreased.
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