I have always been a really good sleeper until quite recently. The last few months of restless sleep have flagged to me that sleep has to be a focus as my memory and energy levels are definitely being impacted. So I have taken a dive into an area which was previously not on my agenda – kind of like oxygen – you don’t really think about it until you aren’t getting enough!!!
A couple of months ago I bought an Oura ring (disclosure – I have no affiliation with this brand). My aim was to help monitor things like sleep, heart rate, exercise, recovery time, body temperature etc. So now I am wearing a little computer on my finger and it even comes in the shower and the pool with me! (The NBA in the US have purchased 2000 of these little smart rings for their players.)
One of the things I am using it for is to measure the quality of my sleep now that it is changing. My reading and discussions with my GP, suggest that while everyone is different, a ball park guide as to the breakdown of type of sleep in a night is:
Awake: 5-10%
Light Sleep: 50-60%
Deep Sleep: 10-25%
REM sleep: 20-25%
So how do I shape up???? Here is last night…………
2 replies on “Do Older People Really Need Less Sleep?”
Sleep is so important and yet I find myself sleeping poorly. I use my Fitbit to track sleep but I’m not sure what to do about the results.
I think that just initially monitoring the results from week to week and see when things change what was the catalyst. For example, I am trying melatonin right now, so am monitoring my results to see if it brings any improvement over last months results.