Sleep in older persons: sleep structures of 50- to 60-year-old men and women.

Electroencephalographically measured sleep of 80 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 60 years was measured for three nights. Compared with the sleep of a younger group of men and women (20 to 30 years), their sleep was characterized by more frequent and prolonged awakenings and shorter sleep stage periods. Older men displayed greater age-related changes than older women. There was an increase in the reliability of measures in the older persons across nights. When a modified scoring procedure for slow wave sleep based on frequency alone was used, the typically reported age decline was not found.