Sleep and affect in older adults: using multilevel modeling to examine daily associations

Abstract

SUMMARYThe main objective of the present study was to examine daily associations (intraindividual variability or IIV) between sleep and affect in older adults. Greater understanding of these associations is important, because both sleep and affect represent modifiable behaviors that can have a major influence on older adults' health and well-being. We collected sleep diaries, actigraphy, and affect data concurrently for 14 days in 103 community-dwelling older adults. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the sleep-affect relationship at both the group (betweenpersons) and individual (within-person or IIV) levels. We hypothesized that nights characterized by better sleep would be associated with days characterized by higher positive affect and lower negative affect, and that the inverse would be true for poor sleep. Daily associations were found between affect and subjective sleep, only and were in the hypothesized direction. Specifically, nights with greater reported awake time or lower sleep quality ratings were associated with days characterized by less positive affect and more negative affect. Gender was not a significant main effect in the present study, despite previous research suggesting gender differences in the sleepaffect relationship. The fact that self-ratings of sleep emerged as the best predictors of affect may suggest that perceived sleep is a particularly important predictor. Finally, our results suggest exploration of affect as a potential intervention target in late-life insomnia is warranted.

The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality in the Relationship Between Personality and Subjective Well-Being

“…In terms of the relationships between sleep quality, affects, and LS, the findings were consistent with those of the literature: Better sleep quality was associated with less NA (Bower et al, 2010;Huang et al, 2016), more PA (Bower et al, 2010;Mccrae et al, 2008), and greater LS (Paunio et al, 2009). These findings can probably be explained by the experimentally observed link between sleep loss and mood regulation deficits (Yoo et al, 2007).…”

“…Greater daytime dysfunction and lower subjective sleep quality are associated with lower levels of PA and higher levels of NA (Bower et al, 2010;Mccrae et al, 2008). Longitudinally, sleep quality positively predicts LS (Paunio et al, 2009).…”

The impact of sleep on age-related sarcopenia: Possible connections and clinical implications

“…Mood regulation is a potential mediator of the exercise-sleep relationship in older adults. The exercise-related effects on depression and anxiety may mediate the benefits of physical activity on sleep behavior (Mccrae et al, 2008;Bonnet and Arand, 1995). Aerobic exercise improves sleep efficiency and reduces depressive symptoms in older adults with insomnia .…”

The Relationship Between Sleep and Anxiety in Older Adults

“…Interestingly, among older adults with insomnia, about 40% have possible anxiety difficulties [10]. Supporting these comorbidity estimates, cross-sectional [11] and prospective studies [12] have found that higher levels of the components of anxiety are correlated with greater sleep difficulties among older adults.…”