![]() Melatonin secretion is reduced (Pandi-Perumal et al. ![]() Additionally, older adults spend more time napping during the day. The number of arousals and total time awake after falling asleep also increases with age however, older adults do not experience increased difficulty in their ability to return to sleep following arousals compared to younger adults (Ohayon et al. Older adults spend a lower percentage of their sleep time in both slow wave (a.k.a., deep sleep) and REM sleep compared to younger adults, and the time it takes to fall asleep increases slightly as well. This may be due to a combination of physiological changes in sleep, changes in sleep related habits, and increased rates of sleep disorders. ![]() Older adults experience shorter total sleep time (TST) than younger adults, with total sleep time decreasing until about age 60, then stabilizing through the later decades of life. Non-pathological changes in sleep occur across the normal aging process. Additional challenges to recognizing, diagnosing, and treating sleep disorders in older adults with dementia and those in long-term care facilities also exist, further complicating the clinical management of sleep disorders in these patients. Assessment and treatment of sleep disorders has been shown to improve functioning and quality of life in older adults however, the process of diagnosis and intervention is often complicated due to the presence of multiple medical comorbidities, medication side effects, and specific age-related risk factors for sleep disruption. ![]() Sleep-disordered breathing, insomnia, circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, and parasomnias occur frequently in older adults and contribute to overall higher rates of poor sleep with advanced age. Although several distinctive sleep changes across the lifespan are normative, including changes in the amount of time spent in different stages of sleep and a shift in the timing of circadian rhythms, sleep disorders are also common in late life. This review describes normal and disordered sleep in the older adult population. ![]()
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