Sleep changes. Age changes it too.

Perhaps you remember sleeping until ten at weekends. These days, you wake earlier even when you have nowhere to be. It is easy to compare your sleep with that of your younger self. But your life and your body have changed in the meantime.

What can shift

The US National Institute on Aging explains that older adults often fall asleep and wake earlier, and may wake more during the night. Illness, pain and medication can also affect sleep. Persistent sleepiness or difficulty sleeping is not something you simply have to accept as the price of getting older.

This overview cannot tell you how many hours a particular person needs. Your own circumstances and, where needed, a professional consultation matter.

Compare similar days

Try describing an ordinary week as it is now. When do you get up, what responsibilities do you have and when can you rest? What changed after retirement, when you began caring for a partner, or after moving home?

Our editorial suggestion is to look for changes in your circumstances rather than blame your body for a different routine. If earlier mornings suit you and you have enough room for sleep, turning the clock back several decades need not be the goal.

Make the problem a specific topic

Mention sleep when you see your doctor, even if you are there about something else. Write down what wakes you, how long it has been happening and how the following day feels. Bring a list of medicines and other products you take, but do not change their timing or doses yourself.

If you support an older person, avoid starting with “People your age do not sleep like that any more.” Ask what is bothering them and what support they would appreciate. Comfort, safety and respect for their preferences belong in the same conversation.

Take this with you: a change is not automatically a problem. But something that reduces your quality of life deserves attention at any age.