Sleep Gets Better with Age

Study: Sleep Gets Better with Age

Good news for seniors. Contrary to common wisdom, sleep doesn’t get more difficult with age. In fact, according to a new study, sleep quality tends to improve the older we get, with adults in their 80s getting better sleep than any other age group surveyed.

More than a person’s biological age, the study suggests, it’s factors like stress and underlying depression or illness that tend to affect quality of rest. When such influences are taken out of the equation, elderly adults aren’t any more likely to report sleep problems than younger adults in their 20s and 30s.

The results were a surprise to the researchers, who initially undertook the study to show that sleep problems are associated with aging. “This flies in the face of popular belief,” said lead author, Michael Grandner, a research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in a statement. “These results force us to rethink what we know about sleep in older people — men and women.”

http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/01/study-sleep-gets-better-with-age/