Knowing what is normal as we age is helpful to avoid thinking something is wrong. Just like its helpful to know changes that happen in our children and their growth, its helpful to know what’s coming up for adult bodies.
These quotes are taken from a New York times article about sleep studies. Here is the link to the article.
” it turns out that sleep does not change much from age 60 on. And poor sleep, it turns out, is not because of aging itself, but mostly because of illnesses or the medications used to treat them.
“The more disorders older adults have, the worse they sleep. If you look at older adults who are very healthy, they rarely have sleep problems.
Most of the changes in sleep patterns occurred when people were between the ages of 20 and 60.” People in this group tended to sleep about a half hour less than others outside this range, woke more often and slept lighter. Most changes were subtle.
So as a general conclusion, if you stay healthy, you could expect some changes in sleep like waking up more often. But if you know this, then there should not be anxiety about the changes.
