Sleep Pattern and Aging

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Sleep Pattern and Aging
Our sleep patterns and need to sleep changes considerably as we grow up.

Newborn babies spend 50 percent of their sleep time in the REM phase. (Prematurely born children spend up to 80 percent of their sleep time in REM phase.)

In childhood, total sleep and REM sleep decrease.

In adulthood deep sleep decreases. During early childhood, the amount of time spent in REM sleep approaches adult levels, and it remains constant for the rest of life.


Amount of Sleep as we age
Newborn infants need sixteen hours of sleep for every twenty-four-hour day.

By age six, children need only nine hours of sleep.

By age twelve, it is down to eight hours of sleep.

By adulthood, our total sleep time requirement drops to an average of seven and a half hours.

These vary to some extent by individuals.


Deep Sleep as we age
Young adults spend some 25 percent of their sleep time in deep sleep.

Adults aged fifty to sixty spend 10 percent or less of their sleep time sleeping deeply.

For many older adults, this reduced deep sleep is bothersome as they worry that they are not getting enough sleep and have developed insomnia. In actuality, they're only responding to a typical pattern of aging.