A lifetime of sleep

Sleeping advice

It is a widespread misunderstanding that you need less sleep as you get older. The truth is that we cannot catch the necessary sleep anymore. Regardless of which generation you are part of, from 18 years on the majority needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep. But what prevents you from a good night's sleep?

Sleep pattern

Your sleep pattern or sleep need changes over the years, as shown in the table below. As people get older, they tend to fall asleep less easily and struggle more to stay asleep than when they were younger. Yet you have a constant need for sleep during adulthood. 

  • New-borns (0-2 months) ⇒ 12 - 18 hours
  • Infants (3-11 months) ⇒ 14 - 15 hours
  • Toddlers (1-3 years) ⇒ 12 - 14 hours
  • Pre-schoolers (3-5 years) ⇒ 11 - 13 hours
  • School Age children (5-10 years) ⇒ 10 - 11 hours
  • Teens (11-17 years) ⇒ 8,5 - 9,5 hours
  • Adults (18+) ⇒ 7 - 9 hours

Then what’s keeping you up

The answer can be found in our brains: as we get older, changes occur in certain brain mechanisms. The brain therefore picks up the signs of sleepiness less. When you nevertheless sleep, you often do not take the right sleep cycles. You wake up several times during the night and this slows down a deep sleep.

Although we cannot prevent the aging process, we can still do our best to get a better night's sleep.

Quantity and quality

Quantity and quality therefore play an important role in sleep. Through simple adjustments to your lifestyle you can get a better night's sleep:

  • Physical activity: As you get older, physical activity often decreases. This has a negative effect on the sleep-wake schedule of your body. That's why older people should strive to move every day, even if it's just a short walk.
  • Afternoon sleep: In the later years of life a change takes place in your biological clock, so that people go to bed earlier and get up earlier. This allows older people to become more tired in the afternoon because they have been awake for a long time. But too many naps can be counter-productive, making it difficult for you to sleep at night. A nap of maximum 30 minutes is ideal to alleviate fatigue and to keep your nighttime sleep.

Sources: National Sleep Foundation | Popular Science