If you’ve ever slept nine hours and woke up feeling like you want more, there’s a good reason for it.

Somnitech Director of Clinic Operations Amber Brown, in partnership with Guthrie County Hospital for sleep service lab, says contrary to popular belief, younger individuals need more sleep than older ones. She says stage one sleep is similar to dozing off, stage two sleep is a more relaxed sleep and stage three sleep is the deep sleep before entering rapid-eye-movement or REM sleep.

“When you’re younger, you hit your stage three sleep and you’re in that stage three sleep a lot longer. The older we get, the less and less stage three sleep we achieve. That’s part of the factors why we don’t feel like we sleep as well because we don’t get as much stage three sleep.”

Brown recommends maintaining a steady daily sleep schedule to promote healthier sleep. She also says that sleep abnormalities like waking up gasping for air, morning headaches and irritability or difficulty thinking clearly should be discussed with your doctor to see if a sleep study could find an underlying issue.