For many older adults, the teenage habit of staying up late, then sleeping the day away, is a distant memory. Aging often makes us gravitate toward earlier sleep and wake times—sometimes, to an extreme degree.
“Nobody likes to wake up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning,” but that’s exactly when some older adults find their eyes opening, said Brienne Miner, MD, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine who specializes in geriatrics and sleep medicine.
Are those ultra-early wake-ups a problem—and is there a better time for adults 60 and older to get up? Here’s what to know.
Sleep patterns can change quite a bit with age, and not always for the better. Older adults often struggle to fall and stay asleep. They may also get less deep, restorative sleep—and less sleep overall—than younger adults, studies suggest. (Interestingly, however, some research also suggests that older adults are better at tolerating sleep deprivation than younger people.)
“A whole host of different things can be contributing to this,” including shifts in circadian rhythms, lifestyle changes, and underlying health conditions, said Joseph Dzierzewski, PhD, senior vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
Along with other sleep issues that may come with age, some adults over 60 find themselves waking up much earlier than they once did—and perhaps earlier than they’d like. But that’s not always cause for concern.
“That early-morning awakening is not a problem as long as you’re getting a normal amount of sleep,” Miner said. The NSF recommends that adults 65 and older shoot for seven to eight hours of rest per night—not so different from the seven to nine hours recommended for younger adults. Even rising as early as 3 a.m. isn’t inherently problematic, she said, as long as you have an early bedtime to match.
In fact, Miner said, there’s no such thing as a “best” time to wake up. “There’s not an ideal schedule across the board,” she said. Rather, it’s better to pay attention to your body’s natural cues.
“There is no single ‘perfect’ schedule for every older adult,” Dzierzewski agreed. “But there is an ideal pattern: a consistent one.”
To the extent possible, he said, try to go to bed and rise at the same time every day. “The best schedule is the one that you can actually follow every day,” he told Health.
There may not be an “ideal” wake-up time for adults over 60. But if you’re regularly waking up either too early or too late for your taste, there are things you can do to reset your sleep cycle.
If you’re waking up later than you’d like (or consistently sleeping well over eight hours per night), consider seeing your doctor. Excess sleep can be a sign of an underlying health problem, Miner said.
If you’re waking up earlier than you’d like, try to get plenty of light exposure in the evening, Miner suggested. Doing so can delay your body’s release of melatonin, a hormone that regulates circadian rhythms, so you can stay up a bit later and subsequently sleep a bit later.
Taking a short daytime nap—no longer than half an hour—may also give you the energy to stay up later and sleep later, Miner said. (Naps don’t work well for everyone, though, so pay attention to your own body.)
Of course, you should also make sure you’ve got the basics of good sleep covered. Stick to those consistent sleep and rise times, stay active, establish a relaxing pre-bed routine, and make sure your bedroom is cool, dark, and quiet.
It’s also smart to limit your caffeine and alcohol consumption, particularly close to bedtime—even if you used to tolerate these substances well when you were younger. “People assume that they can do the same thing with alcohol and caffeine in their 80s that they did in their 40s,” Miner said. “That’s not true.”
Given sleep’s power to influence your overall health and well-being as you age, these shifts are worth making right away, Dzierzewski told Health. “Today,” he said, “will always be the best day to prioritize your sleep.”
