Age Changes in Timing and 24-Hour Distribution of Self-Reported Sleep

doi:10.1097/00019442-200512000-00007

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Volume 13, Issue 12, December 2005, Pages 1077-1082

https://doi.org/10.1097/00019442-200512000-00007 Get rights and content

Objective

Aging has been associated with increased nocturnal awakenings, increased napping, earlier bedtimes and wake-up times, and more regular sleep–wake schedules. These patterns have often been ascribed to both psychosocial and medical factors, but nearly all studies to-date have been cross-sectional.

Methods

The authors present self-reported sleep data from 31 elderly subjects followed over a decade.

Results

With aging, the number of nightly awakenings and daytime napping increased over time. Exploratory analyses suggested that individuals who lived with another person had earlier bedtimes, later wake-up times, and greater daytime napping. Intervening medical comorbidities also appeared to be associated with increased napping.

Conclusion

These results confirm previous cross-sectional studies and suggest a complex biopsychosocial matrix for the timing and placement of sleep in elderly persons within the 24-hour day.

Section snippets

Subjects

Subjects were 31 members of a cohort of middle-aged and elderly subjects whose sleep has been followed longitudinally with overnight polysomnography over intervals from approximately 18 to 30 years (Bay Area Sleep Cohort, BASC). This cohort has been described in greater detail elsewhere,12, 13 but, in brief, BASC represents a convenience sample of middle-aged and elderly volunteers recruited from the mid-peninsula region of the San Francisco Bay area. None of these individuals had presented in

RESULTS

A comparison of demographics and health between the 31 subjects completing the T₁ and T₂ sleep logs and the remaining 225 subjects indicated no differences in gender, education, or the proportions married or with insomnia at time of entry into the cohort.

Table 1 shows a clear increase in number of reported awakenings over the 10-year follow-up interval. Reported daytime napping also increased over this period of time. Expressed on a weekly basis, the number of naps increased from 2.7 to 4.2 per

DISCUSSION

In this group of 31 subjects followed over time, growing old was associated with an increased number of nocturnal awakenings and daytime naps. These findings replicate what has been noted previously in many cross-sectional surveys of elderly populations. We were unable to document longitudinal changes in bedtimes and wake-up times; the former finding was not significant after Bonferroni adjustment. Our mean bedtimes, wake-up times, mean number of daily naps, and timing and duration of naps are

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: This work was supported by grants AG-020269 and NR-07798.

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Regular Research ArticleAge Changes in Timing and 24-Hour Distribution of Self-Reported Sleep

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Section snippets

Subjects

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

Exp Gerontol

Psychiatry Res

Lancet

Sleep in normal aging and dementia

Sleep

A longitudinal study of laboratory- and diary-based sleep measures in healthy “old-old” and “young-old” volunteers

Sleep

Longitudinal changes in diary- and laboratory-based sleep measures in healthy “old-old” and “young-old” subjects: a three-year follow-up

Sleep

The effects of age on some aspects of lifestyle and implications for studies on circadian rhythmicity

Age Ageing

Sleep and circadian rhythm disorders in aging and dementia

Stability, precision, and near-24-hour period of the human circadian pacemaker

Science

Chronobiology and aging

J Am Geriatr Soc

Variation in meals and sleep–activity patterns in aged subjects; its relevance to circadian-rhythm studies

Chronobiol Int

Circadian characteristics of healthy 80-year-olds and their relationship to objectively-recorded sleep

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci

Psychosocial correlates and sequelae of electroencephalographic sleep in healthy elders

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci

Sleep apnea and mortality in an aged cohort

Am J Public Health

Sleep and aging

Napping and 24-hour sleep/wake patterns in healthy elderly and young adults

J Am Geriatr Soc

Sleep complaints among elderly persons: an epidemiologic study of three communities

Sleep

Correlates of daytime sleepiness in 4,578 elderly persons: The Cardiovascular Health Study

Sleep

Regular Research Article
Age Changes in Timing and 24-Hour Distribution of Self-Reported Sleep