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1 March 2012 Last updated at 01:03 GMT

Sleep quality 'improves with age'

The study involved more than 150,000 peopleContinue reading the main story

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The belief that older people tend to suffer worse sleepmay be false - in fact the reverse may be true,according to US researchers.

A telephone survey of more than 150,000 adults suggested

that, apart from a blip in your 40s, sleep quality gets better

with age.

Those in their 80s reported the best sleep, says the study in

Sleep journal.

A UK sleep researcher said while poor health could affect

sleep, it was a "myth" that age alone was a factor.

While universities have equipment which can measure sleep

duration and disturbance in study volunteers, this does not

always match the volunteer's own opinion on their night's

rest.

The research, conducted by the Center for Sleep and

Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania,

instead focused on asking large numbers of randomly

selected people about their sleep.

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They were also asked about their race, income, education,

mood and general health.

While being depressed or having health problems was linked

to poor sleep quality, once the researchers had adjusted theresults to compensate for this, a distinct pattern emerged.

Instead, they found that complaints about poor sleep quality

fell as age rose, with the lowest number of complaints

coming from the over-70s.

Middle age blip

The only exception to this trend was middle age, wheresleep quality was poorer.

Dr Michael Grandner said the original reason for setting up

the study was to confirm the precise opposite - that sleep

quality declined in old age.

He said: "These results force us to re-think what we know

about sleep in older people - men and women."

He suggested that it was possible that older people were

sleeping worse, but simply felt better about it.

"Even if sleep among older Americans is actually worse than

in younger adults, feelings about it still improve with age."

Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, Professor of Sleep and Physiology

and Director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, said the

study was "interesting".

He said: "We have got to get away from all these myths

about ageing - many people are very content with their

sleep."

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However, he said that asking people for their subjective

opinion about sleep patterns could produce answers that

were dependent on their mood at the time.

"If you are angry because your boss didn't give you a payrise, your perception of sleep quality may be very different

from someone who is feeling generally content."