Sleep and Biological Rhythms

, Volume 16, Issue 2, pp 169–175 | Cite as

Age-related changes in the association of sleep satisfaction with sleep quality and sleep–wake pattern

Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
  • 69 Downloads

Abstract

Age-specific relationship of sleep–wake pattern with night sleep satisfaction was examined to address a question of why sleep satisfaction does not accurately reflect the age-associated worsening of subjective and objective indicators of night sleep quality. Sleep history for 1 week prior to the experiment was reported by 160 participants of the sleep deprivation experiments. Sleep satisfaction score was calculated by averaging responses to the question: “Did you have a good sleep? (No = 1… [I slept] Very well = 5)” across the pre-experimental days. It was tested whether this score can be predicted by other self-reports (sleepiness after sleepless night, nap frequency, sleep latency, total sleep duration, times for going to bed and awakening, and scores on scales for assessing morning and evening lateness, anytime and nighttime sleepability, and anytime and daytime wakeability). The characteristics of the sleep–wake pattern exhibited the expected changes on the interval of ages from early to late adulthood. Sleep satisfaction score was significantly associated with some of them in any of the three age groups (≤ 25, 26–45, and 46–67 years). Particularly, the strongest predictor of this score in the youngest participants was late awakening, while morning earliness was the strongest predictor of this score in older participants. Therefore, perception of a good night’s sleep remains adjusted across the lifespan to the typical for each age’s sleep–wake pattern. The ability for such adjustment can persist in middle-aged adults and elderly people due to the age-associated strengthening of their wake drive relative to the weakening drive for sleep.

Keywords

Normal sleep Aging Sleep–wake habits Sleep complaints Chronotype 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

The experiments were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grants 07-06-00263-а, 10-06-00114-а, 13-06-00042-a, and 16-06-00235-a) and the Russian Foundation for Humanities (Grants 06-06-00375-a, 12-06-18001-e, and 15-06-10403-a). The author is indebted to Olga Donskaya and Dr. Evgeniy Verevkin for their help in planning this experiment and collection of experimental data.

Compliance with ethical standards

Ethical standards and ethical committee permission

The experiments have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Their protocols were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute (#02-07.2015).

Human participants

This research involves human participants.

Informed consent

Informed written consent (in Russian) was obtained from all the individual participants included in the study as paid volunteers.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

References

  1. 1.
    Foley DJ, Monjan AA, Brown SL, Simonsick EM, Wallace RB, Blazer DG. Sleep complaints among elderly persons: an epidemiologic study of three communities. Sleep. 1995;18:425–32.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Driscoll HC, Serody L, Patrick S, et al. Sleeping well, aging well: a descriptive and cross-sectional study of sleep in ‘successful agers’ 75 and older. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008;16:74–82.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Zepelin H, McDonald CS, Zammit GK. Effects of age on auditory awakening thresholds. J Gerontol. 1984;39:581–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Van Cauter E, Leproult R, Plat L. Age-related changes in slow wave sleep and REM sleep and relationship with growth hormone and cortisol levels in healthy men. JAMA. 2000;284:861–8.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Ohayon MM, Carskadon MA, Guilleminault C, Vitiello MV. Meta-analysis of quantitative sleep parameters from childhood to old age in healthy individuals: developing normative sleep values across the human lifespan. Sleep. 2004;27:1255–73.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Vitiello MV, Larsen LH, Moe KE. Age-related sleep change: gender and estrogen effects on the subjective–objective sleep quality relationships of healthy, noncomplaining older men and women. J Psychosom Res. 2004;56:503–10.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Ohayon MM, Zulley J, Guilleminault C, Smirne S, Priest RG. How age and daytime activities are related to insomnia in the general population: consequences for older people. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001;49:360–6.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Foley D, Ancoli-Israel S, Britz P, Walsh J. Sleep disturbances and chronic disease in older adults: results of the 2003 National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America Survey. J Psychosom Res. 2004;56:497–502.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Åkerstedt T, Schwarz J, Gruber G, Lindberg E, Theorell-Haglöw J. The relation between polysomnography and subjective sleep and its dependence on age—poor sleep may become good sleep. J Sleep Res., 2016, 25:565–70.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF 3rd, Monk TH, Hock CC, Yeager AM, Kupfer DJ. Quantification of subjective sleep quality in healthy elderly men and women using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Sleep. 1991;14:331–8.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Zilli I, Ficca G, Salzarulo P. Factors involved in sleep satisfaction in the elderly. Sleep Med. 2009;10:233–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Putilov AA, Donskaya OG, Verevkin EG. How many diurnal types are there? A search for two further “bird species”. Pers Individ Dif. 2015;72:12–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Putilov AA, Donskaya OG, Budkevich EV, Budkevich RO. Reliability and external validity of the six scales of 72-item sleep-wake pattern assessment questionnaire (SWPAQ). Biol, Rhythm Res. 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1080/09291016.2016.1254872.Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Putilov AA, Donskaya OG. Evidence for age-associated disinhibition of the wake drive provided by scoring principal components of the resting EEG spectrum in sleep provoking conditions. Chronobiol Int. 2016;33:995–1008.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Putilov AA, Donskaya OG, Verevkin EG. Generalizability of frequency weighting curve for extraction of spectral drowsy component from the EEG signals recorded in closed eyes condition. Clin EEG Neurosci. 2017;48:259–269.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Putilov AA. Introduction of the tetra-circumplex criterion for comparison of the actual and theoretical structures of the sleep-wake adaptability. Biol Rhythm Res. 2007;38:65–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Danilenko KV, Putilov AA, Terman A, Wirz-Justice A. Prediction of circadian phase and period using different chronotype questionnaires. In: Society for research on biological rhythms, ninth meeting, whistler resort, Whistler, British Columbia, USA, June 24–26, 2004, Program and Abstracts, 2004: p. 122.Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Putilov AA. Validation of nighttime sleepability scale against objective and subjective measures of sleep quality. Sleep Hypnosis. 2017.  https://doi.org/10.5350/Sleep.Hypn.2016.18.0131. http://www.sleepandhypnosis.org/ing/abstract.aspx?MkID=232. Accessed 13 Dec 2017.
  19. 19.
    Verevkin E, Putilov D, Donskaya O, Putilov A. A new SWPAQ’s scale predicts the effects of sleep deprivation on segmental structure of alpha waves. Biol Rhythm Res. 2008;39(1):21–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Putilov AA, Donskaya OG, Verevkin EG, Putilov DA. Associations of waking EEG structure with chronotype and trototype of 130 sleep deprived individuals. Biol Rhythm Res. 2010;41(2):113–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Åkerstedt T, Gillberg M. Subjective and objective sleepiness in the active individual. Int J Neurosci. 1990;52:29–37.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Daan S, Beersma DGM, Borbély AA. Timing of human sleep: recovery process gated by a circadian pacemaker. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 1984;246:R161–R78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Åkerstedt T, Hume K, Minors D, Waterhouse J. Good sleep—its timing and physiological characteristics. J Sleep Res. 1997;6:221–9.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Kecklund G, Åkerstedt T. Objective components of individual differences in subjective sleep quality. J Sleep Res. 1997;6:217–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Cajochen C, Münch M, Knoblauch V, Blatter K, Wirz-Justice A. Age-related changes in the circadian and homeostatic regulation of human sleep. Chronobiol Int. 2006;23:461–74.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Chinoy ED, Frey DJ, Kaslovsky DN, Meyer FG, Wright KP. Jr. Age-related changes in slow wave activity rise time and NREM sleep EEG with and without zolpidem in healthy young and older adults. Sleep Med. 2014;15:1037–45.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  27. 27.
    Lafortune M, Gagnon JF, Latreille V, et al. Reduced slow-wave rebound during daytime recovery sleep in middle-aged subjects. PLoS One. 2012;7:e43224.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Edgar DM, Dement WC, Fuller CA. Effect of SCN lesions on sleep in squirrel monkeys: evidence for opponent processes in sleep-wake regulation. J Neurosci. 1993;13:1065–79.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    Dijk DJ, Czeisler CA. Contribution of the circadian pacemaker and the sleep homeostat to sleep propensity, sleep structure, electroencephalographic slow waves, and sleep spindle activity in humans. J Neurosci. 1995;15:3526–38.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  30. 30.
    Putilov AA, Münch MY, Cajochen C. Principal component structuring of the non-REM sleep EEG spectrum in older adults yields age-related changes in the sleep and wake drives. Cur Aging Sci. 2013;6:280–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. 31.
    Putilov AA. Principal component scoring of the resting EEG spectrum provides further evidence for age-associated disinhibition of the wake drive. Healthy Aging Res. 2015;4:1–9.Google Scholar
  32. 32.
    Duffy JF, Willson HJ, Wang W, Czeisler CA. Healthy older adults better tolerate sleep deprivation than young adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009;57:1245–51.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  33. 33.
    Landolt HP, Rétey JV, Adam M. Reduced neurobehavioral impairment from sleep deprivation in older adults: contribution of adenosinergic mechanisms. Front Neurol. 2012;3:62.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  34. 34.
    Klerman EB, Dijk DJ. Age-related reduction in the maximal capacity for sleep—implications for insomnia. Curr Biol. 2008;18:1118–23.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Japanese Society of Sleep Research 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Research Institute for Molecular Biology and BiophysicsNovosibirskRussia
  2. 2.BerlinGermany

Personalised recommendations