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| The amount of sleep that's right for you is that which enables you to feel wide awake, alert and energetic throughout the day. In other words, the amount and quality of your sleep are usually normal if it seems so to you, and if your daytime efficiency and alertness are not decreased. The best way to determine this is by going to bed in the evening when sleepy and waking up in the morning without an alarm and noting the total time slept. |
| Does Sleep Change with Age? |
| Once a person reaches adulthood, the amount of sleep required varies only a little as you age; however, the pattern of sleep does change. The older person often sleeps more lightly, and, as the body ages, the quality of sleep usually deteriorates: sleep becomes lighter, less efficient and less restful. The frequency of nocturnal awakenings increases (however, most people don't recall these brief awakenings). There is a gradual decrease in delta sleep, the deepest sleep, the part of sleep most associated with growth and bodily recovery. By around age 50 for men and 60 for women, there is much less of the deep delta sleep, sometimes none, so that people at these ages and older are more easily aroused by noises or other outside factors that younger people might sleep through. |
| Thus, the changes that occur in sleep patterns with age increase susceptibility to sleep deprivation and insomnia. There is no truth to the myth that older people sleep less during the night because they "need less sleep." They sleep less because their ability to |
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