A study published in “Sleep” by British scientists has compared the sleep needs of 110 healthy adults of different ages.
Sleep 2010;33(2):211-223
Healthy elderly people without sleep disorders may have a lower need for sleep and feel less sleepy during the day than healthy adults, according to a study from the University of Surrey (United Kingdom) published in Sleep.
The study involved 110 healthy adults without sleep disorders: 44 young people between 20 and 30 years old, 35 middle-aged between 40 and 55 years old, and 31 elderly people between 66 and 83 years old.
The results show that during an 8-hour night in bed, total sleep time decreased significantly and progressively with age. Older adults slept about 20 minutes less than middle-aged adults, who in turn slept 23 minutes less than young adults.
The number of awakenings and the amount of time spent awake after sleep onset increased significantly with age, and the amount of time spent in the deep slow-wave sleep phase decreased in all age groups. Even with these decreases in sleep time, intensity, and continuity, older adults showed less subjective and objective propensity to sleep than younger adults.
Additionally, two extra nights that included a disturbance of slow-wave sleep led to a similar response in all age groups. The greater propensity for daytime sleep increased and slow-wave sleep was recovered during a recovery sleep night.
According to the authors, this suggests that the lack of an increase in daytime sleepiness in the presence of age-associated deterioration in sleep quality cannot be attributed to a lack of response to variations in homeostatic sleep pressure. Instead, healthy aging seems to be associated with reductions in sleep duration and depth required to maintain daytime alertness.
According to Derk-Jan Dijk, the lead researcher, “Our findings reaffirm the theory that it is not normal for older people to be sleepy during the day. Whether you are young or old, if you suffer from daytime sleepiness, you either don’t sleep enough or you might have a sleep disorder.”
The authors note that the cause of age-associated reductions in slow-wave sleep and sleep must be determined. Associated factors could include alterations in reproductive hormones or changes in the brain. They add that the study did not analyze sleep propensity during evening hours, when older adults may be sleepier than young adults.
They state that the study also has implications for the treatment of insomnia in older adults, who may not be aware of their reduced need for sleep. Therefore, sleep restriction, which leads to greater homeostatic sleep pressure, could be an effective behavioral therapy for insomnia in healthy older adults.
(News taken from intramed)
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