Sleep and Ageing: How Sleep Needs Change Over Time

We all need sleep - but the amount can vary depending on how many miles we have on the clock.

Parents of new-born babies can usually be overwhelmed by the frequent night waking’s, while parents (or carers) of teenagers may get frustrated by their seemingly ‘lazy’ teen, who stays up late and needs to sleep in a lot.

However, people aged between 13-18 years officially need more sleep than adults during this life-changing phase.

You might wonder, how much sleep do I need by age? Is there a set number of hours to aim for per age group? Indeed, there is. Here’s your handy guide.

How much deep sleep do you need by age?

The amount of sleep we need changes over time. As a general rule, these are the recommendations per age group:

Age Group	Hours per night
New-born babies	14-17
Infants aged 4-11 months	12-15
Toddlers (1-2 years)	11-14
Pre-schoolers (2-5 years)	10-13
School age children (6-12 years)	9-11
Teenagers (13-18 years)	8-10
Adults	7-9
Older people	7-8

How sleep needs change as we age?

While it’s clear that we need less sleep as we mature, the former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, famously took it to extremes, clocking just four hours of sleep per night.

Less well known, she was also partial to napping in the back of her official car. As we age, we can experience various age-related sleep challenges such as;

Changing sleep patterns
Finding it harder to fall asleep
Waking more frequently during the night
Wanting to go to sleep earlier and waking earlier in the morning
Sleeping less hours in total
Lighter sleep
Interruptions - from pain, discomfort, or a weaker bladder
Sleep disorders such as insomnia, restless legs and sleep apnea are more common in older people

What are the secrets to better rest for older people?

As we age, the body produces less growth hormones, and this can reduce the amount of deep sleep in our sleep cycle. Sleep can become fragmented and lighter.

For many, subconscious worrying and a racing mind are much to blame for a restless night's sleep. Our Orbit weighted blanket harnesses the science of ‘deep pressure therapy’ to alleviate stress through its precision engineered nano-bead technology.

In other words, its soft cotton exterior applies a relaxing pressure - feeling a lot like a calming, full-body hug! Just what you need after a tough day at the office or an evening of running around after the kids…

As sleep is an integral part of our health and our body’s ability to repair itself, it’s still important to seek out restorative sleep as much as possible, and this can also be found during the day as well as at night.

How to nap like a pro:

Try and nap earlier in the day, around lunchtime or early afternoon, so there is less conflict with your bedtime
Keep it short - even 5 minutes can be beneficial. Use the alarm in your phone to set a maximum of up to 45 minutes
Longer than 45 minutes and it could become a ‘bad’ nap that leaves you feeling groggy