Try: No matter how old the Care recipient (cr) is sleeping well is essential to physical health and emotional well-being while healthy sleep requirements vary most adults tend to require between 7 5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to maintain health a recent study by the national institutes of health suggests that healthy crs may require about 1 5 hours less sleep than younger adults an average of 7 5 hours per night the study indicates that seniors sleep less even when given the opportunity for more sleep because of age-related changes in the ability to fall asleep and remain asleep while the results of the study may not be conclusive it’s important to focus more on how the individual cr feel following a night’s sleep rather than the specific number of hours quality is as important as quantity some crs mistakenly believe they have a sleeping problem because they go to bed expecting to be asleep for 8 or 9 hours a night and may even needlessly start using medications to help them sleep more frequently waking up not feeling rested or feeling tired during the day are better indications that the cr is not getting enough sleep at night and may have a sleep problem that needs to be addressed if the cr has repeated problems with sleeping contact a physician information references helpguide org

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Categories: Medical Physical

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Keywords: Sleep rest

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed