What are the changes to sleep as we age?

As an adult, you should be averaging between 7-9 hours of sleep every day. These figures are extensively researched and you should be dubious when someone says that they can do fine with 5 hours of sleep.

The keyword here is 7-9 hours every day, not necessarily at night. People who sleep 4-5 hours at night will need to supplement their sleep with naps in order to get the necessary sleep. When you are younger, you likely had little trouble getting at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. But your sleep pattern changes as you age, and after 65 years of age, the idea of getting 7 straight hours of sleep may sound impossible.

Generally speaking, as you get older, your sleep pattern changes in the following ways:

• You will likely sleep less than 7 hours at night
• Your sleep may feel less restful during the night
• You may be more inclined to nap
• The times that you go to bed and wake up will also likely change

While your pattern might change, your need for getting a certain amount of sleep won’t change. These changes happen for life reasons (stress, children, jobs), hormonal changes, and natural physiological changes that make you more susceptible to certain sleep disorders.

Depression and sleep deprivation symptom similarity

It may seem like identifying sleep deprivation would be obvious, or that the only symptom of lack of sleep is being tired. This list is intended to help you take measured stock of some of the most common symptoms of sleep deprivation, to help you identify whether or not you may be operating at a suboptimal level due to chronic sleep deprivation, depression, or both.

Life is busy and can cause different stressors to compile and add up. When stress compounds, it can cause disruptions in many areas of life, especially sleep. Managing sleep patterns well can relieve some of the burden of stress and help keep you going during questionable times.

Stay safe on the road

Many people have felt that scary feeling of drifting slightly to sleep while driving, only to perk up with a start. Or that scary feeling of hearing though warning on the side rumbling your tires. Especially for shift workers, sleeping at the wheel is one of the main causes of death.

If you drive often, work as a commercial truck driver, or have a longer commute, these tips and tricks could be highly useful for you

Sleep and energy management

Have you ever found yourself 25 minutes into lecture, with your eyelids steadily getting heavier and heavier? It’s warm. It is likely a class that you are not particularly interested in, or one that you have to take as a prerequisite for your program. The teachers voice sounds like white noise in the background? 

For many people in college or educational programs, this struggle may happen more often than not. College life take a toll on sleep habits. Between assigned readings, paper to write, schedules to manage, extracurricular activities, etc., getting a lot of sleep is touch to manage, so realistically how is a student supposed to keep from getting a little tired and sleepy in those extraneous classes?

When things begin to heat up, it is very important to recognize the impact that hot weather can have on sleep, both quantity and quality. In the summer months, especially if you do not have AC, you may find yourself tossing and turning, throwing off the sheets, waking multiple times at night, etc. This can be a source of frustration and fatigue. Continue reading to learn more about ways to sleep in hot weather.

Puppies are cute - but bad for sleep

Yes, new puppies are very, very cute. But If you have ever trained a new puppy on their house-manners, you know just how much it can interrupt your normal sleeping patterns. The puppy may be barking, whining, scratching on the door, or just rough-housing loudly with their toys.

Either way, it can be a major challenge to your normal sleep patterns to try and raise a new puppy. Here are some thoughts, tips, and tricks which may ease your way. From newborn pup, to fully-trained canine companion, here are a few ways to get some sleep along the way.

What is Binge Sleeping?

Here’s a common scenario. During the week you stay up late reading, watching TV, working, or doing things on your computer. You get up early for work, maybe only getting about five hours of sleep. After all, you can “make up” this sleep on the weekend.

Then on the weekend, you sleep in an extra couple of hours each day. That should make you sleep better right? This is probably a fairly common practice for most people. Americans average sleeping 6.8 hours per night during the week and 7.4 hours during the week.

The idea of sleep binging revolves around the notion of a “sleep debt”, which is:

• Your body requires a certain about of sleep, which is different depending on your age
• As you get less sleep than required, you become sleep deprived
• This sleep deprivation causes a “debt” which you have to “pay” by sleeping more than the required amount

Sleep debts are extremely important to correctly understand, because there are common misconception about what a sleep debt is and how you “repay” it.

What are nightmares?

We’ve all had nightmares, vivid dreams that cause feelings of fear, terror, anxiety, etc. Especially vivid or terrifying nightmares usually result an abrupt awakening from REM sleep with distinct memories of the dream. Returning to sleep after these experience can be difficult, and the nightmares are often remembered the next morning as well.

Naturally, children and adults react differently to nightmares. Anyone who has had a child wake up in the middle of the night screaming in terror can attest to this. For one, adults rarely have this reaction. Secondly, as a parent, it’s both scary and distressing to watch your child go through this, especially when it seems impossible to console your child.

Nightmares in children are most common in children who are 3-6 because these are the ages in which imagination is extremely active and children develop normal fears develop [WebMD].

Getting Older Often Means More Sleep Problems

As you get older, the likelihood that you will develop or report sleeping troubles will increase. This is because as you age, your sleep patterns will change, requiring you to acquire sleep differently than you did when you were, say, 20 years old. Generally speaking, as you get older your sleep pattern changes in the following ways:

• You will likely sleep less than 7 hours at night
• Your sleep may feel less restful during the night
• You may be more inclined to nap
• The times that you go to bed and wake up will also likely change

As an adult, you should be averaging between 7-9 hours of sleep every day. These figures are extensively researched and you should be dubious when someone says that they can do fine with 5 hours of sleep. The key work here is 7-9 hours per day, not just at night.

When you are younger, you likely had little trouble getting 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. But your sleep pattern changes as you age. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep, let alone even 5 or 6 hours, at one time may seem impossible when you get older.

While your pattern might change, your need for getting a certain amount of sleep won’t. So to get the full amount of sleep when you're only getting 4-5 hours at night, you might need to start supplementing your nightly sleep with a long nap or two, or by having two long periods of sleep at night with a break of several wakeful hours in the middle of the night. The point is that you will have to be more conscious of when and how you get your sleep.

These sleep changes happen for life reasons (stress, children, jobs), hormonal changes, and natural physiological changes that make you more susceptible to certain sleep disorders. Let’s look at some of the sleep disorders that are more common in older people.