Which statement best describes sleep in older adults?

Which statement best describes sleep in older adults?

• A. Older adults have lighter sleep with more awakenings
• B. Older adults sleep more deeply with fewer awakenings
• C. Sleep patterns do not change with age
• D. Older adults maintain the same sleep architecture as young adults

Answer: (A)

Older adults typically experience lighter, more fragmented sleep. As people age, deep slow-wave sleep decreases and awakenings become more frequent, so they spend more of the night in lighter sleep stages and wake easily. This pattern—lighter sleep with more awakenings—best describes the common aging change in sleep. In contrast, claiming deeper sleep with fewer awakenings doesn’t fit with observed aging patterns, and suggesting no changes or the same sleep architecture as younger adults ignores the well-documented shifts in sleep stages and increased nighttime fragmentation that occur with age.

Older adults typically experience lighter, more fragmented sleep. As people age, deep slow-wave sleep decreases and awakenings become more frequent, so they spend more of the night in lighter sleep stages and wake easily. This pattern—lighter sleep with more awakenings—best describes the common aging change in sleep.

In contrast, claiming deeper sleep with fewer awakenings doesn’t fit with observed aging patterns, and suggesting no changes or the same sleep architecture as younger adults ignores the well-documented shifts in sleep stages and increased nighttime fragmentation that occur with age.