Early To Bed, Early To Rise
The idea that older people sleep more is a common misconception. Older adults actually require less sleep. In a study of 110 adults, the eldest group (between 66-83 years old) snoozed about 20 minutes less than those who were middle-aged (ages 40-55). In turn, those middle-aged adults slept an average of 23 minutes less than people between the ages 20-30.
Another theory is that older adults have more trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep due to complications, have less time in REM sleep, and so on. It has been found that men and women age 65 or above suffer from one or more sleep-related problems or experience insomnia. This also shaves off minutes from precious sleep time.
