sleep changes
Complaints of sleep difficulties in crease with age, as sleep may be disrupted from illness, medications, the physical changes of aging, or moves to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. More than 50 percent of person aged 65 and older report problems with sleeping. One disorder common among the elderly is restless legs syndrome, causing unpleasant prickling or tingling sensations in the legs and feet and an urge to move them to get relief. Most frequently, men report difficulties with daytime sleepiness, napping, and night time awakening, whereas women report difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting adequate sleep. Older people do report being sleepy during the day, and they do take naps, so apparently it is not the amount of sleep needed that declines with age but rather the ability to stay asleep. The two min reasons why the ability to sleep decreases with age are changes in circadian rhythms and the presence of sleep disorders.
Sleep patterns change across the life span. That is, older people have less Stage 4 sleep and less rapid-eye-movement sleep. The sleep/wake cycle is controlled by our biological clock, or circadian rhythm. The average younger adult gets sleepy around 10 or 11 P.M. and sleeps for about 8 to 9 hours, waking between 6 and 8 A.M. As we age, our circadian clock advances, causing advanced sleep phase syndrome. People with advanced sleep phase syndrome get sleepy early in the evening; and if they were to go bed at that time, they would sleep for about 8 hours and wake up at 4 to 5 A.M. But the tendency, of course is not go to bed so early, rather delay sleep until the "usual" time of 10 or 11 P.M. The problem is that the person still wakes up at 4 or 5 A.M. Now they have had only 5 or 6 hours sleep, so they will feel tired and maybe nap during the day to "catch up." According to Sonia Ancoli-Israel(1997), director of the sleep Disorder Clinic, University of California at San Diego, sunlight treatment is the best stabilizer of circadian rhythms, and she recommends bright exposure in the early evening or late afternoon.