A common myth about sleep and aging is that we need less, while this is not true, there are age-related issues to consider
Our dream is constantly changing and evolving complex ways throughout our lives. Babies usually sleep 15-18 hours each day. School children require 10-11 hours of sleep for optimal development, while teenagers need nine hours each night.
It is a belief that gains as we approach old age, our need for sleep decreases. This is indeed a myth, and that the amount of sleep we need is more or less constant since the maturity later in life. Sleep needs of each person are different, but most healthy adults tend to have between seven and a half to nine hours a night to function at its best.
However, there is no doubt that a good night's sleep seems to us to be more difficult as we age.
Research on sleep patterns in adults than this assumption, with some studies reporting that up to 50 percent of adults complain of difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep.
So what's keeping you awake elderly?
REM
We know that significant changes in sleep architecture and our patterns - what experts call "sleep architecture" - as part of the normal aging process.
Throughout life, the brain activity changes to properties and methods are expected throughout the night. Sleep cycles, composed of REM (rapid eye movement, when we dream) sleep and REM, will last about 90 minutes in adults.
Moves without REM sleep through several more steps deeper: Phase A, Phase B and (most profound and restorer of all) stage III.
As we age, the rate decreases while the percentage of REM and sleep stage in our possession a non-REM and other costs.
Moreover, the amount of time invested in stage III (deep sleep) gradually decreases from maturity at th...
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... Revealed that the alcohol in the head, I did not have the opportunity to expand my bedroom for up to six hours at a time.
Once the worst of the dry cough subsided, I realized that I slept better than he had for weeks, but the fact that my illness means he missed two starts in the early morning work-related early week probably helped no end.
The technology is still a problem. Was probably a time when I did not bring my phone to bed, but before long, I do not remember. I did my best not to check my balance at the bank or at the Irish Times or my Twitter account after going to bed or when I wake up in the middle of the night. I tried not to look at my phone, at least until after washing your teeth.
I will not lie. I've dropped the virtual shopping a few times, and almost as soon as I pick up the phone I can feel good to wake up. Next week, I'll be better. I promise.
Each year at least 40 million Americans suffer from long term, persistent sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleeping problems. About 60 million Americans a year have insomnia and it tends to increase with age and affects about 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men. It is estimated that 18 million Americas are suffering from sleep apnea, 12 million have RLS, and 250,000 are affected by narcolepsy. Adults typically need between 6 and 10 hours of sleep per 24 hour period, and most people need approximately 8 hours of sleep per day. Infants generally need about 16 hours per day; whereas, teenagers require 9 hours on average. In the first 3 months of...
Sleep deprivation is a commonplace occurrence in modern culture. Every day there seems to be twice as much work and half as much time to complete it in. This results in either extended periods of wakefulness or a decrease in sleep over an extended period of time. While some people may like to believe that they can train their bodies to not require as much sleep as they once did this belief is false (1). Sleep is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep neurons may begin to malfunction, visibly effecting a person's behavior. Some organs, such as muscles, are able to regenerate even when a person is not sleeping so long as they are resting. This could involve lying awake but relaxed within a quite environment. Even though cognitive functions might not seem necessary in this scenario the brain, especially the cerebral cortex, is not able to rest but rather remains semi-alert in a state of "quiet readiness" (2). Certain stages of sleep are needed for the regeneration of neurons within the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep seem to be used for forming new memories and generating new synaptic connections. The effects of sleep deprivation on behavior have been tested with relation to the presence of activity in different sections of the cerebral cortex.
When most people think of sleep, they think of it as a relaxed but yet not a very important part of our daily lives. What most people don’t understand is although we are not up and moving around and getting tasks completed, our brains are still very active. Without sleep our bodies do not function correctly on a daily basis, and our mental state is at risk.
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
One of the most common altered states of consciousness that occurs on a daily basis is sleep. Sleep is a circadian rhythm that takes about a day to complete and "is a product of the activity of the hypothalamus, the hormone melatonin, the neurotransmitter serotonin, and body temperature" (Ciccarelli & White, 2011). Sleep is needed on a daily basis because it is one of the natural cycles the body needs to perform in order to function to the best of its ability. Four stages of sleeping consist of a light sleep, sleep spindles, a sleep where delta waves come in and make up thirty to fifty percent of the brain's activity, and delta waves that make up fifty percent or more of the brain's functions. According to the adaptive theory and restorative theory of sleep, sleep is essential in order to conserve energy and accommodate to the needs of the body like restoring chemicals and repairing cell tissue.
The average adult needs at least 8 hours of sleep every night but some adults tend to get between five and six hours. When you lose one or two hours of sleep each night it can affect your health. "The single element that ties sleep disorders together is that they disrupt in one or more parts of out sleep cycle." (Zimbardo). Insomnia’s chronic inability to fall asleep quickly causes frequent arousals while sleeping or causes early morning awakenings. When you don’t get enough sleep it also causes depression and heart disease and in some cases adults tend to suffer from insomnia. If you change up your lifestyle it can help to cure insomnia and when you take the time out of your busy day to relax and unwind it can help you sleep better at night. Other causes of insomnia is exces...
There are five stages of sleep. The first stage is when one prepares to drift off. During this stage, one experiences Alpha and Theta waves. This stage generally lasts five to ten minutes. The second stage lasts about twenty minutes. The brain begins to produce short periods of rhythmic brain waves known as Sleep Spindles. Body temperature begins to drop and the heart rates slows down. During stage three, slow waves
To sleep an individual usually requires relaxed skeletal muscles in their posture (sleep. 2014). Also according to the many research done by United States, United Kingdom and Australia (sleep. 2014) a person usually needs to sleep for a certain amount of time depending on if it is a weekday or weeknight. Adults are supposed to sleep between ‘6 to 9 hours per night’ (sleep. 2014). However, according to sleep polls that had been undertaken by United States in 2009 and in 1998, 6 hours per night sleeping had increased from ‘12 percent in 1998 to 20 percent in 2009’(sleep. 20149. REM decreases after a night of sleep for ‘100 minute’ every night (MARZANO et al, 2010). On the other hand, there had been a decrease during the same period when the poll was created to see the average of individuals sleep for 8 hours’ (sleep.2014). For 8 hours there had decrease from ‘35 percent of people to 28 percent (sleep. 2014). In the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, adults have an average less than 7 hours of sleep per night during weekdays, which is not enough due to the amount of work they have during the day and can lead to disorders.
One question that people seem to be unsure about is exactly how much sleep is enough sleep? In Inside Insomnia: How to Sleep Better Tonight, Dryer says that the ideal amount of sleep may vary from person to person. She states that while seven to eight hours may seem to be the accepted average, there are no fixed norms. Some people sleep two hours nightly, while others sleep nine to twelve hours nightly without complaint. She goes on to say that as long as the hours of sleep that one has gotten leaves them feeling energetic and alert the next morning, then that person has met their sleep needs.
Each night, the average person spends approximately 7-9 hours giving their bodies a restful vacation in the land of dreams. Considering this, we spend 1/3 (or 25 years) of our entire lives engaging in this idle activity. Although these numbers can appear as a waste of time in our every day lives, sleeping and/or napping is the energy that helps fuel our bodies to function correctly. Sleep is a necessary function in our every day routine in order to make our brains function at the most efficient level. As we sleep, the brain helps us to recuperate and regain strength by “restoring and repairing the brain tissue” (Myers, 2010, p 99). Without this reviving process, we would all eventually deteriorate. By impairing the sleep deprived mentally and physically, it can potentially cause serious harm. We must fade our conscious mind, and let our mind relax within subconscious state.
the sleeper will gradually descend deeper into sleep, becoming more and more detached from the outside world and progressively more difficult to awaken. Stage three is the beginning of deep sleep, occurring about thirty to forty five minutes after you first fall asleep. The deepest sleep occurs in Stage four. Stage three and four has the biggest and slowest brain wave. REM sleep, a mentally active period during which dreaming occurs, provided a biological explanation for this phenomenon. Scientists found that brain activity during REM sleep begins in the pons, a structure in the brainstem, and neighboring midbrain regions. The pons sends signals to the thalamus and to the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for most thought processes. There are several myths about sleep. For one, how much sleep a person should get? According to our text book people should sleep for at least eight hours to maintain sound mental and physical health. But every one doesn’t get the chance to sleep for that amount of time. There is no normal amount of time you should sleep. Everyone is not the same. For one I might sleep for five hours and feel refreshed enough to work another shift. Other hand my cousin might need more then eight hours of sleep to feel refreshed.
Patricia Alpert and colleagues (2011), state that fifty to seventy million Americans have chronic sleep and wakefulness disorders. Those most affected are women and ethnically are non-Hispanic Blacks compared with all other ethnic adults. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep per night. However, as a general rule the length of sleep varies per individual.
Because sleep is vital to our well-being, we have to make sure to get an enough quality sleep at the right times as it helps to protect our mental and physical health, quality of life and safety.
Contrary to popular belief adults, teens, and younger children do not actually need the same amount of sleep. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that teens, on average, need 9 to 10 hours a day while adults need around 7 to 8 hours a day. Newborns need about 16 to 18 hours a day. Preschoolers are suggested to have 11 to 12 hours, and school aged children need to have at least 10 hours of sleep per day (Sleep and Sleep Disorders). Most people think that adults need more sleep than younger children, and most of the time adults do receive more sleep than children. However, the fact of the matter is, the younger a person is the more sleep they need. Sl...
Getting enough sleep can increase our chances of being more mentally/physically healthy and our safety throughout the day. How we feel throughout the day is depending on our sleep. Lack of sleep can lead to impaired judgment and actions, which can be a safety hazard towards yourself and your surroundings. When we sleep, our bodies are working to revitalize the brain to form new pathways to help with memory functions and our physical health such as healing repair heart and blood vessels and hormone balance. It is very important for everyone to maintain a good night’s rest to maintain daytime performance and lower stress. Sleep will reduce the levels of stress, help others gain control on their actions and avoid depression. Contributing to these sleep benefits will change your body and mind