Medical findings show that the older healthy people are, the less they sleep.

by 60888888 on 2010-02-04 10:58:46

Medical research has confirmed that healthy people sleep less as they get older, and the reduction in sleep does not make them feel more tired during the day.

A report published in "Sleep," by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, says that although elderly people may lie in bed for eight hours, their actual sleep time gradually decreases significantly with age.

The report states that individuals aged 66 to 83 sleep 20 minutes less than middle-aged people aged 40 to 55, while middle-aged people sleep 23 minutes less than young adults aged 20 to 30.

Compared to younger individuals, older people wake up more frequently and spend longer periods awake.

The report also indicates that the deep sleep phase (slow-wave sleep), which is most restorative, shortens with increasing age.

Although older people experience lighter and shorter sleep and cannot sustain long periods of sleep like younger people, they rarely need daytime naps.

This study, conducted by the University of Surrey in the UK, involved 110 healthy adults without sleep problems, including 44 young people, 35 middle-aged individuals, and 31 elderly participants.

In the experiment, they first had a normal night's sleep, followed by two nights of interrupted sleep, and then a recovery night.

On a normal night, young people slept an average of 433.5 minutes, middle-aged individuals 410 minutes, and older people 390 minutes. Additionally, young people spent an average of 118.4 minutes in deep sleep, middle-aged individuals 85.3 minutes, and older people 84.2 minutes.

During the daytime nap tests, young people fell asleep after lying down for an average of 8.7 minutes, middle-aged individuals took 12 minutes, and older people took over 14 minutes.