The popular notion that older people need less sleep than youngster adults is a myth, scientists said yesterday. While elderly people __1__ sleep for fewer hours than they did when they were younger, this has a __2__ on their brain's performance and they would benefit from getting more, according to research. Sean Drummond, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, said that older people are more likely to __3__ broken sleep, while youngster people are better at sleeping __4__ straight through the night. More sleep in old age, however, is associated will better health, and most older people would feel better and more alert if they slept for longer periods, he said. "The ability to sleep in one chunk overnight goes down as we age but the amount of sleep we need to function well does not change,"Dr.Drummond told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego. "It's __5__ a myth that older people need less sleep. The more healthy an older adults is, the more they sleep like they did when they were younger. Our data suggests that older adults would __6__ continuing to get as much as they did in their 30s.