So far, most people believe that elderly sleep time was shorter than younger people. But according to researchers from the United States, elderly tend to sleep longer. It has been proved through a survey conducted on thousands of people.
A study has been conducted through a telephone survey method, which involves more than 150,000 adults. The survey participants stated that, apart from age of 40 years old, sleep quality will be better with age. The survey participants with an age of about 80-years reported getting very quality sleep compared to younger participants. The results of these studies have been published in the Sleep journal.
"Sleep can be disturbed if people has a chronic or degenerative health problems. Most of the elderly usually have a chronic or degenerative health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease. So generally the elderly have problems with sleeping." British researchers said.
The study also using equipment that can measure the duration of sleep and sleep disorders experienced by participants. So by using such tools, researchers can get more objective and accurate data. The study was conducted by the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at University of Pennsylvania. The study was analyzing time and quality of sleep. Inclusion criteria for studies were also included race, income, education, mood and general health.
While the participants would be depressed because of health problems that associated with poor sleep quality, the researchers also had to adjust the results to compensate that problem or if a different pattern emerged. Instead, the researchers found that, complaints about poor sleep quality decreased with age. They found that the lowest number of reported complaints of sleep difficulties in study participants is from people aged over 70 years.
"The original reason why this study was conducted is to confirm what many people believed that sleep quality decrease when they got older. Results of this study force everyone to rethink what is already known about sleep quality in elderly," said Dr. Michael Grandner as reported from BBC News Health.
"The research has been done is really interesting. Because it reveal things that many people have believed all along. However, asking people to express subjective opinions about the sleep patterns can produce an answer that is depends on the mood of the moment," says Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, a professor of Sleep and Psychology and director of Surrey Sleep Research Centre.
Further research will be needed to generate more accurate method.
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