For many adults over 65, sleep can become more elusive. Retirement might ease the pressure of a packed schedule, but new challenges—like health issues, medications, caregiving responsibilities, or simply changes in routine—can quietly crowd out restful sleep. You may be tempted to dismiss these disruptions as just part of aging, but quality sleep remains just as vital in later life as it was when you were younger. It supports memory, mood, immune function, and even helps reduce the risk of chronic conditions. Yet, many older adults find themselves waking frequently at night or rising too early, feeling unrefreshed.

The good news? These changes aren’t inevitable. By understanding how sleep evolves with age and making a few intentional adjustments, it’s possible to improve both the quality and quantity of your rest—helping you feel more energized, clear-headed, and ready to enjoy the day ahead.

Why Sleep & Circadian Health Matters for Older Adults

Sleep becomes even more important later in life for maintaining memory, heart health, mood, and immune resilience. Yet, nearly half of adults over 65 report sleep troubles.¹ These issues aren’t just inconvenient, they’re tied to higher risks of cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic problems.

Healthy sleep isn’t just about clocking hours. It’s about aligning your sleep routine with the natural rhythms of your body and your life. At WSCN, we define good sleep health using six dimensions²:

Timing –  Sleep happens at biologically appropriate times, aligned to the natural circadian rhythm
Duration – Older adults get enough total sleep each night
Efficiency – Falling asleep within a reasonable time and minimizing night awakenings
Regularity – Sleep-wake patterns stay consistent, even on the weekends
Alertness – Being able to stay awake and attentive throughout the day
Satisfaction – Feeling like sleep was refreshing and restorative

Older adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night—the same as younger adults. But changes in biology, lifestyle, and health conditions can make this harder to achieve.

The Importance of Circadian Health in Older Adults

The brain’s master clock, called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, becomes less responsive to external cues over time. That means older adults are more sensitive to disruptions like inconsistent light exposure, social changes, and shifts in activity levels.

Key changes include:

• Earlier sleep and wake times (advanced sleep phase syndrome)
• Weakened melatonin production
• Decreased amplitude of daily rhythms (the body’s biological signals, like temperature and hormone levels, are less pronounced, making sleep and wake cues weaker and more easily disrupted)

These shifts can impact everything from hormone cycles to alertness.³ Regular exposure to bright daylight, consistent routines, and physical activity are some of the best ways to support a strong circadian rhythm in later life.

What Is Healthy Sleep in Older Adults?

Healthy sleep in older adults begins with understanding what your body needs now—not what it needed decades ago. Research shows that the body’s circadian rhythms weaken with age, resulting in less distinct signals for sleep and wake cycles.³

Healthy sleep for older adults means achieving sleep that is:

• Regular: Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day
• Restorative: Waking up feeling refreshed
• Aligned: Matching your sleep-wake cycle to your natural circadian rhythm

Menopause, changes in testosterone, reduced growth hormone, and shifting cortisol levels all affect how sleep feels and functions in older adults. Sleep efficiency, the percentage of time in bed spent asleep, tends to remain stable, but deep sleep and sleep latency (how quickly you fall asleep) often decline.⁴

Common Sleep Challenges for Older Adults

Normal aging comes with new sleep challenges. Knowing what to expect helps individuals and their caretakers manage them. Many older adults experience:

• More nighttime awakenings, often driven by nocturia (frequent need to urinate at night), which affects up to 80% of older adults⁵
• Increased daytime sleepiness, influenced by fragmented nighttime sleep and reduced deep sleep stages⁴
• Hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause, contributing to disturbed sleep among postmenopausal women⁶
• A greater tendency to nap or doze off unintentionally due to diminished circadian amplitude and lower overall sleep quality⁷

These sleep changes are not only biological but also influenced by lifestyle transitions, such as retirement, which can lead to reduced physical activity and less structured daily routines. Lower exposure to daylight and psychosocial stressors like social isolation or relocating to assisted living facilities can further disrupt sleep-wake patterns and circadian rhythm alignment in older adults.

The Bottom Line

Sleep changes with age—but that doesn’t mean poor sleep is inevitable. Understanding the science behind sleep in older adulthood empowers you to take proactive steps. Whether it’s resetting your circadian rhythm, addressing underlying disorders, or simply refining your bedtime routine, there are effective strategies to maximize your potential during all 24 hours of the day.

At WSCN, we believe in person-first solutions. Start where you are, and know that better sleep is possible—and worth it. Learn more and Support Our Mission.

References

1. Sleep and Older Adults. National Institute on Aging. February 6, 2025. Accessed May 30, 2025. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/sleep/sleep-and-older-adults
2. Buysse DJ. Sleep Health: Can We Define It? Does It Matter? Sleep. 2014;37(1):9-17. doi:10.5665/sleep.3298
3. Hood S, Amir S. The aging clock: circadian rhythms and later life. J Clin Invest. 2017;127(2):437-446. doi:10.1172/JCI90328
4. Ohayon MM, Carskadon MA, Guilleminault C, Vitiello MV. Meta-Analysis of Quantitative Sleep Parameters From Childhood to Old Age in Healthy Individuals: Developing Normative Sleep Values Across the Human Lifespan. Sleep. 2004;27(7):1255-1273. doi:10.1093/sleep/27.7.1255
5. Williams JL, Patel JR, Daniels BP, Klein RS. Targeting CXCR7/ACKR3 as a therapeutic strategy to promote remyelination in the adult central nervous system. J Exp Med. 2014;211(5):791-799. doi:10.1084/jem.20131224
6. Gimenez D, Zhou G, Hurley MFD, Aguilar JA, Voelz VA, Cobb SL. Fluorinated Aromatic Monomers as Building Blocks to Control α-Peptoid Conformation and Structure. J Am Chem Soc. 2019;141(8):3430-3434. doi:10.1021/jacs.8b13498
7. Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Age-related change in the relationship between circadian period, circadian phase, and diurnal preference in humans. Neuroscience Letters. 2002;318(3):117-120. doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02427-2