Sleep: more or less as we age?

S

Sue777

New Member
Location
Connecticut, USA
I've heard both: it seems some people really enjoy naps when they get older (where they would have never dreamed of taking one earlier in life) and then I hear that some people need LESS sleep as they age. I've always been a night owl - even when I have to be in the office early I would still stay up till 1:00 or so in the morning and function just fine on 5 or 6 hours of sleep per night. I would make up for it on weekends and it all seemed to even out. In the past year or so I started noticing that if I didn't get at least 7 hours of quality sleep per night, I would feel badly the next day, almost physically ill, and definitely short-tempered and irritable.

For the past few weeks I've been working a lot less (I was weaning off the job towards retirement and today was my first full day home!) but yet I find I'm getting tired earlier in the evening than ever before. Having generalized anxiety, of course that triggers thoughts of "Uh oh, maybe I'm coming down with something" or "What did I eat differently, do differently, change any medications?" I don't just easily accept that I'm tired and should go to bed, I analyze it to death and fight it, trying to perk myself up so I will feel "normal" again. So tonight, when I started getting really weary at about 10:00 p.m., after pretty much not doing anything all day, I wonder, do we tire more easily and need more rest and recovery as we age, or should I be needing less sleep than I used to?

Anyone caring to share their thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.
Sue
 

So far I'm sleeping more since I've been retired than when I was working. Never been that much of a nightowl, usually in bed by 11pm and asleep by midnight. I normally get around 8 hours sleep now, never take daytime naps.

Since I stopped working I don't stress at all about sleep, I go with the flow and if I don't sleep well I don't get annoyed like I used to. I listen to my body, if I'm tired I go to sleep a little earlier, doesn't matter to me if I did nothing all day or was really busy. Once you're home every day full time for awhile, you may not feel so anxious about sleep.

I think we do need more rest and recovery now that we're older, sleep is a good way to rejuvenate the body and mind...of course everyone's different and may not feel that way. I don't think there's any hard set rules of us needing more or less sleep, it's very individual in my opinion.
 
It's really common among seniors to have nights of insomnia.

It's horrible when you can't get back to sleep.

Where do you go and what do you do when it's 1 a.m. and you are wide awake.
 

Great answer, Seabreeze, especially since sleep is so vital to both physical and mental health. And you're right about stressing less over sleep: when I was tossing and turning a week ago and looking at the clock with the old "so if I could fall asleep right now I could still get 6 hours before the alarm goes off....." I thought to myself, in another week, it won't matter if I fall asleep quickly or not! I can't wait to listen to my body more and not do what my job and lifestyle mandated for so many years!
Sue
 
I'm sleeping pretty much the same pre and post retirement, 7 and a half hours in bed.
Can't shake the get up habit of 5 A M tho. And if I do nap, usually mid afternoon or evening, I'm grumpy after so I try to avoid that.
 
Just before retiring, a wise friend told me to expect it to take at least a year to adjust to retirement. He was right.

Regarding sleep, I think adapted more quickly biologically than I did psychologically. My body knew when and for how long it wanted to sleep but my brain kept fighting it. The result of conditioning from many years of too-short nights and too-early mornings.

I don't think it's as much a matter of age as it is of not working. I now get the 7-8 hours of sleep on a regular schedule that my body has needed, but didn't get, through all of those working years.
 
applecruncher said:
I agree that it's not so much a matter of age as it is no longer having to commute and put in a full workday.
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yup

SeaBreeze said:
sleep is a good way to rejuvenate the body and mind.
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and yup

If I slog thru the day without a nap, I get less done

I sleep whenever
Eat whenever

Because, now I can

And I'm right on schedule

HNe6dLC.jpg


 
I sleep a lot less since I took retirement last year... however I'm a bit odd, I find that when I've had a really busy day , just when you would normally sleep like a log, I find I sleep even less hours..probably only around 4 hours, and the effects of my busy day doesn't get me until the following night and then I'll feel super tired all day
 
I think that I need longer sleep as I am getting older, it just takes my body longer to recuperate from the activity of the day.
When we get home from the fitness center (after swimming for an hour), I always feel like I could take a nice nap; but I usually don’t take one.
By bedtime, I am SO ready to go to bed, and I usually fall asleep almost instantly, and sleep for 8-9hours most nights, unless there’re is something that I have to be up earlier for.

I find that what and when I last ate makes a difference as well. I try to not eat any main meal after 4PM, because I do not sleep well after a heavy meal.
On the other hand, if I am hungry when I go to bed, then I have trouble sleeping, too; so somewhere in between those two extremes seems to work best for me.
Getting my exercise during the day, and then having my main meal, early afternoon, and then maybe a light snack (bit of cottage cheese or an apple and peanut butter) sometime in the evening, and then I usually sleep just tine all night.
 
I couldn't sleep one night so I experimented to see how long I could stay up without sleeping.

I got up at about 2 a.m. and I didn't make it until 2 p.m. the next day.

Fell asleep immediately. I cant remember how long it was.

There was a disk jockey in our town who tried to set the record for staying up without sleep.

He became incoherent.
 
Camper6 said:
Where do you go and what do you do when it's 1 a.m. and you are wide awake.
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I keep a tiny am/fm radio under my pillow, usually if I can't sleep I put on an am talk show, but I also have the option of music. Generally, I'll fall back to sleep with the radio still on, low volume so I don't wake my husband. We also use 1mg sublingual Melatonin when needed, and that can be in the middle of the night, I have Skullcap herb in my medicine chest, so something I'll put a dropper in a little water and it will help me go back to sleep.
 
I’m certain no expert in sleep. I rarely if ever sleep a full 7 or 8 hours but I think there is an explanation for not sleeping sound after a strenuous day or workout. Adrenaline pumping through our bodies from exercise keeps our minds active even though our bodies are fatigued. When my husband works nights and is sleeping during the day, I can’t go out anywhere without taking our dogs or they will cry and wake him up so I have to go to the gym at night and no matter how hard I work out, I won’t sleep well because I’ve still got adrenaline pumping through my veins. The next night I will usually sleep better and while I sometimes love taking naps mid afternoon, I will pay for it later for sure.

note: I’ve read many an article that claims that seniors need less sleep as the age but I don’t know how true this is
 
SeaBreeze said:
I keep a tiny am/fm radio under my pillow, usually if I can't sleep I put on an am talk show, but I also have the option of music. Generally, I'll fall back to sleep with the radio still on, low volume so I don't wake my husband. We also use 1mg sublingual Melatonin when needed, and that can be in the middle of the night, I have Skullcap herb in my medicine chest, so something I'll put a dropper in a little water and it will help me go back to sleep.
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Skullcap! I forgot about that one :thumbsup:
 
Wow, so many great answers - thank you all for replying! I guess the common theme I can take away from this is "it depends". And the three BIG lessons I've learned from your responses is: 1. Listen to your body 2. Each person has their own "normal" and set of needs, there are no wrongs or rights and 3. Relax - give it time, stop worrying and wondering what you SHOULD be feeling and SHOULD be doing! I haven't even been retired 48 hours yet (actually I'm not yet, I'm technically available and on call for the next 9 weeks) and I'm already stressing over what I should and shouldn't be feeling or doing. That's the old anxiety rearing it's head. Hopefully when I get into a healthy routine of exercise and walks every day, I will have less anxiety and just roll with the flow of each day.

And Holly, I'm right there with you on being "odd". On nights when I only got 4 or 5 hours of sleep, I was a dynamo at the office the next day, breezing through all the tasks and stresses like an energizer bunny, and that night I would STILL be running around, doing errands, chores, household tasks, and not being tired when I went to bed. Usually two or three days later it would catch up and I'd be a zombie for a few days. Hopefully, that, too, will be a thing of the past, or if it's not, hopefully I won't care - just let it be.

Thanks again - really helpful posts.
Sue
 
Since retirement and approaching 81, I sleep a long pretty good night. Not a busy day in my life, so I rest a lot, due to OA mess and joint issues, life is not very exciting. But I'm still breathing and still waking up every day, so guess I'm still living. Things have sure changed for me since 72 at hip replacement date.
 

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