Most elderly people I know have a similar schedules, go to bed early (like before 9pm) and wake up very early (like before 5am)
Is this a natural shift that happens, or something else?
I would like to suggest that your observation of the “old people” universe is probably sadly limited. “Old people” who live at home, as distinct from living in an institutional setting, probably keep all kinds of hours.
As contrary anecdotes to your conclusion, I present my father and myself. When he was alive, my father went to sleep at 11:45 (after the Tonight show monologue) and got up around 8:00 am. He was 87 when he died. I keep a similar schedule, although I don’t watch the Tonight show. I am 67 and not dead yet.
As for those elderly people you know who have these schedules, asking them your question might be more useful.
I heard something on the radio about this today. If I recall correctly, it was posited that it might be evolutionally hardwired for there to be a mixture of owls (late-sleepers) and larks (early-risers) in the human social group unit. This would increase the chances of there being someone awake during the night to be on guard against potential threats, such as animal predators or other humans.
Noted username/post combo.
My MIL, 70ish, told us with horrified glee that her similarly-aged retiree friend frequently sleeps late. Until 10AM!
Apparently early rising is a virtue. EYEROLL.
I have heard that sleep quality and ability declines as you age. This was used as a partial explanation for the early-rising retiree stereotype. Sorry, I have no cite. :o
I’ve heard that it is indeed a natural shift. Here’s one cite that attributes it to circadian clocks.
I don’t *feel *old!
I would guess there’s a wide variety sleep patterns. My dad, 77, stays up until midnight or later (much later) and sleeps until noon. This drives my mom nuts because he always sets his alarm for 7 am and then ignores it. Why doesn’t she just unplug it? This is where I leave the room and let them argue.
Funny, I’ve considered that theory to explain why teenagers stay awake later.
I assume that old farts get up early because any given day may be their last. And they want to get in as many hours of living as possible before they succumb.
But that doesn’t explain why they drive so slowly. If I were a short-timer, I’d want to get where I’m going as fast as freaking possible!
I’m an old people. I go to bed when I’m sleepy and get out of bed when I wake up. Last night I went to bed at 10:30PM; I got out of bed at 1:30AM. So what?
Spent my whole life as a night owl. Frustrated my Mom so completely, as a baby she took me to the Dr! Spent my life working nights because it just made sense. I was always a little sleepy through the day and no matter how early I was awoken, come sun down I had enough energy to paint a house. Never could make sense of a world that felt there was some special virtue in rising early, to be honest. I was a very good sleeper, till noon each day!
After menopause everything was turned upside down. Suddenly I was lucky to sleep 6 hrs in a night! And the cruelest twist was I woke earlier and earlier. Suddenly I was seeing a world I had rarely ever experienced. I was wide awake, no hope of going back to sleep, as early as 4am many days.
When this first happened, I would wake up angry that I couldn’t sleep more. Of course if you’re angry, you’ll never get back to sleep. It took over a month to get over that part, so frustrating. And, of course, having started my day at 4, I would begin to slow down around 3pm. Sometimes I would need a nap! By 11 pm I’d be asleep despite thinking if only I could stay up later I could change it all back around somehow.
Yeah, not how it works. It took me an embarrassingly long time to accept that this was going to be the new normal. I can no more turn myself into a night person now, than I could stop myself from being one back then. When talking to my Dr about my frustration with it all, she insists it’s just part of aging. I do have a sleep aid I occasionally use, but it won’t shift things back to how they used to be, I’m afraid. Just help me through the roughest spots.
Growing old isn’t for sissies, it seems!
Left to her own devices, DesertWife would be up until 6am and sleep until 2 or 3pm It was only if other people’s schedules demanded it (a 10am meeting for example) would she shift to a “normal” schedule. One of the reasons she swapped out her former husband for me was because, being a lark, he would insist that she go to bed with him at 9pm then get angry if he discovered she’d slipped out at 11 when she got bored.
I had to get up at 4am for work so would go to bed at about the same time and she would voluntarily accompany me, so we could play, then leave after I fell asleep. The first couple times I’d wake up in a panic around midnight – Where is she? – see the light from downstairs along with hearing the adding machine printing, and fall back asleep. Sometimes she’d come back about 3:30 so we could play some more.
I’ve heard of that theorizing but I don’t think it has anything to do with this. Teenagers just need more sleep and seniors tend to have sleep problems, often getting less sleep than they need in both quality and quantity.
WebMD article](Sleep Disorders & Problems: 10 Types and Causes of Each)
Here is more. Researchers tracked the sleeping habits of 33 modern hunter-gatherers of the Hadza people of northern Tanzania. For twenty days they were given watch-like devices on their wrists which tracked night-time movements. Of over 220 total hours of observation, there were just 18 minutes when all adults were sound asleep simultaneously. Older people tended to be “larks”, with the younger participants more likely to stay up late.
Teenagers need more sleep than older adults, but their body clock is also apparently programmed about two hours later.
Well, regardless of whether it’s an evolutionary advantage to the species, it’s a common health problem for older people.
A lifetime of getting up that early to be at work at 8am and you get used to it.
Also, dogs. My mother was so grateful that she could sleep in this morning because she wasn’t at home where the dog would wake her up at 6am.
It does annoy the Hell out of me that old people with nothing to do all day start linine up at the DMV at 6,when it doesn’t open till8. I have to get to work by 9 dammit,why don’t they go at 10:30?
Because when you are old, particularly retired, every activity uses up a whole day. If you try to do anything with retired folks it’s like, “Oh, not Tuesday I’m getting a haircut,” or “Can’t make it Thursday I have a doctor’s appointment,” or “Friday’s out I have to go to the DMV.”