Sleep and the Elderly - It’s harder to wake a sleeping teenager than a sleeping adult

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Sleep Disorders Sleep and the Elderly

It’s harder to wake a sleeping teenager than a sleeping adult

Sleep is divided into several stages from light to deep sleep. Stage 1 is midway between waking and sleeping; it’s a kind of dozing. Stage 2 is the sleep in which we spend most of our night. Stages 3 and 4 are deeper sleep. How much time we spend in each stage often depends on our age. Teens are prone to getting a greater proportion of deep sleep, which is the kind of sleep where it is very difficult to arouse someone. In laboratory studies people in slow-wave sleep have slept right through 80 to 90 decibels worth of noise. For older people, who have less slow-wave sleep, a relatively quiet tone of 20 to 30 decibels will be enough to wake them.

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