Sleep and Aging Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night.
According to their internal body clock, most older adults need to go to sleep around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and wake up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. Many people fight their natural inclination to sleep and choose to go to bed several hours later instead.
For healthy adults, 13 to 23 percent of sleep should be deep sleep. For an average eight-hour night of sleep, that's roughly 60 to 110 minutes spent in deep sleep.
Older adults are more likely to take naps during the daytime due to age-related changes in circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. Cultural beliefs, chronic conditions, medications, and lifestyle changes can also contribute to daytime napping.
Older people wake up more often because they spend less time deep sleep. Other causes include needing to get up and urinate (nocturia), anxiety, and discomfort or pain from long-term (chronic) illnesses.
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night.
Insomnia: Having persistent difficulty in falling or staying asleep is one of the most common sleep issues in older adults. Insomnia may be caused by a variety of overlapping factors but can get better with treatment.
Almost all older people sleep more than the average adult. This is because sleep helps maintain our physical and psychological health. Sleeping also improves memory and slows down the process of aging. To stop the effects of aging, we need to sleep more.
While a 30- to 90-minute nap in older adults appears to have brain benefits, anything longer than an hour and a half may create problems with cognition, the ability to think and form memories, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Daytime napping among older people is a normal part of aging – but it may also foreshadow Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. And once dementia or its usual precursor, mild cognitive impairment, are diagnosed, the frequency and/or duration of napping accelerates rapidly, according to a new study.
Yes, it is. And sleeping too much — 10 hours or more — can harm your health. Further, it may be a sign of underlying health problems, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
The Best Time to Sleep Is Between 8 p.m. and Midnight
Within that four-hour timeframe, you should go to bed when you're tired enough to get to sleep easily, but early enough to be well-rested the next day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an “older adult” as someone who is at least 60 years old. Many states may also have different definitions of “elderly” when determining what resources are available in cases of elder abuse, although most states commonly use 65 years of age as the cut-off.
“There is no such thing as a “fixed or ideal time” to go to bed which will suit all individuals. It is generally advisable to fall asleep between 10 pm to midnight as for most people this is when the circadian rhythm is at a point that favours falling asleep.”
Could a sudden increased need for naps indicate a health problem? If you're experiencing an increased need for naps and there's no obvious cause of new fatigue in your life, talk to your doctor. You could be taking a medication or have a sleep disorder or other medical condition that's disrupting your nighttime sleep.
What is the optimal length of time for a nap? Naps can be short (15 to 30 minutes) or longer; both short and long naps can increase alertness and be useful. Take into account that sleep becomes deeper the longer you sleep, reaching the deepest level (slow-wave sleep) in about 1 hour.
Compared with younger adults, the elderly spend more time in bed but have deterioration in both the quality and quantity of sleep. All of these changes can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness, which in turn can lead to intentional and unintentional napping.
Possible causes of excessive daytime sleepiness. Some medicines, drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs can also cause excessive daytime sleepiness. Sometimes there is no known cause. This is called idiopathic hypersomnia.
There are plenty of potential culprits. Medications for blood pressure, sleep problems, pain and gastrointestinal reflux can induce fatigue, as can infections, conditions such as arthritis, an underactive thyroid, poor nutrition and alcohol use. All can be addressed, doctors say.
We grow up and we don't look quite the same. But all this is only on the outside. Beneath the surface, your body is aging too, and sleep loss can speed up the process. A study done by UCLA researchers discovered that just a single night of insufficient sleep can make an older adults' cells age quicker.
As reviewed above, most sleep parameters decline with age until the age of 60 years, but remain generally unchanged after 60 years of age. Also, older adults are less likely to complain of sleep problems and tend to accept some noticeable sleep alterations as normal changes with aging.
NEW ORLEANS – Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) should be the first-line therapy for insomnia in seniors, but many clinicians are unaware of its benefits, experts say.
What Is Narcolepsy? Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects your ability to wake and sleep. People with narcolepsy have excessive, uncontrollable daytime sleepiness. They may also suddenly fall asleep at any time, during any type of activity.