ArticlesSlow-Wave Sleep and Waking Cognitive Performance Among Older Adults With and Without Insomnia Complaints
Section snippets
Subjects
Data gathered for the current investigation were obtained from a cohort of older adults while they participated in a larger study designed to test the effects of home and lab sleep monitoring on a variety of nocturnal and diurnal measures. Participants included 32 (16 women, 16 men) older (Mage = 67.5 years; SD = 5.7 years) normal sleepers and 32 (16 women, 16 men) older (Mage = 67.7 years; SD = 4.8 years) insomniacs who were recruited through announcements posted within two medical centers
Descriptive Data
Table 1 shows means and standard deviations of visually scored and computer-scored sleep data for our two subject groups as well as similar descriptive statistics for their performance tests results. These data show that the normal sleepers, on average, had slighlty more consolidated and deeper sleep than did the insomnia sufferers, but there was considerable overlap between these two groups in regard to their sleep measures. Similarly, the performance data suggested considerable overlap
Discussion
Various studies have found that sleep deprivation is associated with a decrement in waking cognitive performance [e.g., 6, 7, 11, 21, 22, 35]. Furthermore, results obtained by Jurado et al. (24) have suggested that cognitive performance decrements may be associated specifically with a relative deficit of slow-wave sleep among healthy young normal sleepers. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a similar relationship between cognitive performance and slow-wave sleep might also
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Program.
References (36)
Sleep as a restorative process and a theory to explain why
Prog. Brain Res.
(1980)- et al.
Human sleep and adrenal individual reactions to exercise
Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.
(1980) - et al.
EEG sleep patterns as a function of normal and pathological aging in man
J. Psychiatr. Res.
(1967) EEG power spectra in sleep-onset insomnia
Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.
(1986)- et al.
High incentive effects on vigilance performance during 72 hours of total sleep deprivation
Acta Psychol.
(1985) - et al.
Normal human subjects with slow reaction times and larger time estimations after waking have diminished delta sleep
Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.
(1989) Structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R (SCID)
(1990)- et al.
A comparison of period-amplitude and spectral analysis in quantifying sleep EEGNormal controls
(1994) - et al.
Sleep and cognitive functions in normal older adults
J. Gerontol.
(1985) Sleep in normal aging and dementia
Sleep
(1993)
Effect of sleep disruption on sleep, performance, and mood
Sleep
Performance and sleepiness as a function of frequency and placement of sleep disruption
Psychophysiology
Effects of exhaustive exercise on the sleep of men and women
Psychophysiology
The role of state-trait anxiety in insomnia and daytime restedness
Behav. Med.
Performance during frequent sleep disruption
Sleep
Sleep in the laboratory and sleep at homeComparisons of older insomniacs and normal sleepers
Sleep
Aerobic fitness, acute exercise and sleep in older men
Sleep
Flurazepam effects on slow-wave sleepStage 4 suppressed but number of delta waves constant
Science
Cited by (88)
Sleep and Cognition: A Narrative Review Focused on Older Adults
2022, Sleep Medicine ClinicsInsomnia and cognitive performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis
2019, Sleep Medicine ReviewsLooking for light in the din: An examination of the circadian-disrupting properties of a medical intensive care unit
2018, Intensive and Critical Care NursingSleep and Cognition in Older Adults
2018, Sleep Medicine ClinicsMemory improvement via slow-oscillatory stimulation during sleep in older adults
2015, Neurobiology of Aging