Actually, people do not need less sleep as they get older.
The body’s sleep requirements remain constant throughout our lives. The average total sleep time, however, actually increases slightly after age sixty-five. This sounds like something to be excited about, but not really. The problem is that as you age, you have more difficulty falling asleep. Sleep for the elderly is also interrupted by such factors as leg cramps, sleep apnea, and medical or psychiatric illness.
Normal sleep consists of two major stats: REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and NREM (non-REM) sleep. NREM sleep is divided further into four sleep stages. A healthy night’s rest is generally comprised of 20 percent REM and 80 percent NREM. As you age, this distribution is changed.
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"Why do people need less sleep when they get older?" was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 12:24 am.
There is this myth that as we get older, we need less sleep. The truth is that our ability to sleep changes as we get older, but the need for sleep probably doesn’t. As we get older, the amount of deep sleep that we have decreases. It actually starts decreasing at around age 20. As we get older, our sleep architecture changes. We begin losing some of our deep sleep and the less deep sleep you have, the more time you’ll spend in lighter stages of sleep. If you’re spending more time in lighter stages, that means that you’re more likely to react to noises or things in the environment that will wake you up.
I HAVE QUESTIONS AND WOULD LIKE A REPLY IF POSSIBLE: It seems that sleep drugs are supplied to older persons who are hospitalized or in assisted living situations to keep them quiet or prevent them from bothering other persons. Why are sleeping drugs prescribed for older persons when they don’t really want to sleep more, and would rather be alert and in conversation with someone or involved in some activity? Could sleeping more because of drugs given cause the older person to have problems? Is there information available which explains sleep patters for older persons (60 and over) and what are considered usual sleep patters for the majority of older persons? Is there a website you can go to that will speak only about sleep for the elderly and not include ads for sleeping medications?