How sleep changes as we age

How much we sleep and how much sleep we need changes as we age.

Babies to Teenagers
As babies we need as much as 19 hours every day, with sleep divided into chunks of three or four hours. By the time we’re starting school we need between 10 to 12 hours per night. However, research amongst teenagers’ sleep habits show a tendency for them to reduce the number of hours that they sleep, go to bed later and have an increased level of sleepiness during the day. Teenagers probably need more sleep at this stage in their lives but many factors can affect their sleeping patterns: puberty can cause sleepiness during the day even if there are no problems falling asleep at night. Circadian rhythm changes can also impact on sleep patterns. Furthermore environmental or societal factors such as teenagers becoming less reliant upon their parents to set bed times or being involved in part-time work can upset their natural rhythm of sleep.

Adults
At around 20 years of age we sleep for between seven and eight hours per night, but there is considerable variation between individuals as to what is enough sleep. A healthy young adult will spend half the night in stage two non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and a quarter in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Middle Age to Retirement
Once we pass through middle age our sleeping patterns begin to change and by the time we are elderly, we’ll feel sleepier earlier in the evening than we used to and wake earlier in the morning. We’re also much more likely to experience interrupted sleep during the night and feel the need for naps during the daytime which in turn can lead to sleeping less well at night.

What affects our ageing sleep pattern?
Melatonin is an important hormone which regulates our natural time clock, known as the circadian rhythm. Melatonin production changes during the day and is affected by light; rising levels of melatonin as night falls tell your body that it is dark and time to sleep.

As we age naturally, our ability to produce melatonin reduces, making us - prone to sleep problems or insomnia.

Sleep problems in the elderly
Unfortunately, older adults are more likely to have primary insomnia, as well as secondary insomnia caused by other health problems, like arthritis, or medication for health conditions, than younger adults. But although so many of us may experience sleep problems as we get older, it’s not a condition that is often diagnosed and effectively treated. People experiencing insomnia may not consider their condition serious enough and therefore might not go to see their GP for advice.

Disturbed sleep can really affect your quality of life because of how it makes you feel the next day.

If your sleep is badly disrupted you may not be as awake as normal and your reaction times could be slower. You could find that your balance is not as good as it should be and what’s more, poor sleep can even affect your cognitive function (mental processing) whereby you experience poorer memory control than people your age who have had a good night’s sleep.

In the elderly these problems can worsen the normal decline in cognitive functioning that is part of aging. They can also affect family life and relationships, as tired people can be grumpy. Insomnia can also make people feel anxious and depressed.