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Sleep Patterns of Older Adults - Stages of Sleep
With aging, the time it takes to fall asleep generally lengthens.
- Beginning in middle age, stages 3 and 4 sleep become less prominent.
- There's a moderate reduction in total REM sleep time.
- The percentage of sleep time in stages 1 and 2 increases, which may account for the observation that sleep tends to become lighter in older persons.
Copyright 2000