Abstract
Sleep patterns change with age. These changes are often difficult to distinguish from changes caused by disorders, and the prevalence of some sleep disorders also change with age, further complicating the matter. ‘The seven ages of sleep’ divides the sleep behaviour of humans into seven phases: sleep during pregnancy, neonatal sleep (from the perspectives of both the baby and the parent), childhood sleep, adolescence and young adulthood sleep, middle age and menopausal sleep, sleep in the elderly, and dementia. Our sleep patterns vary considerably as we go through life. We can even vary in terms of being a morning or a night person as we age.
