Women sleep better and have a stronger response to late night curtailed sleep than men, particularly in older individuals - effects on polysomnographical sleep

• Objectives: Higher age is associated with poorer sleep and women report more sleep problems than men, despite indications of better physiological sleep. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a common daily life sleep problem, late night curtailed sleep, would have different effects depending on gender and age. Methods: 60 healthy individuals (equal groups of gender and age (20–30 and 65–75 years)) participated in an experiment with a full night’s sleep and one night with reduced sleep between 0400 h and 0700 h, in a balanced design. Sleep was recorded through standard polysomnography (PSG) at home. Results: The results showed the expected main effect of sleep loss. Older participants had a lower TST, N3%, sleep efficiency, but more N1%, longer N3 latency, and fewer awakenings. Women had more N3%, more REM%, more N3%, and shorter N3 latency compared with men. The curtailed late night sleep caused a stronger increase in N3%, and more pronounced reductions in REM%, a stronger reduction in N1%, and N3 latency in women than men. In the higher age group the N3% response in men was strongly attenuated compared to that of women. Conclusions: The results show that women, apart form getting more N3% and less N1% even in the normal sleep condition, have a stronger response to late night sleep, particularly in higher age groups.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

gender

curtailed sleep

polysomnographical sleep

age

Psychology

psykologi

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