Sleep Disturbance and Older Adults' Inflammatory Responses to Acute Stress
Open accessAbstract
Objectives Poor sleep diminishes mental and physical health. The objective of this study was to examine associations between sleep disturbance and interleukin-6 (IL-6) responses to acute mental stress in older adults.Design Observational study of community-dwelling, healthy older adults.Setting Participants completed the study in a clinical research laboratory of a mid-sized university.Participants Generally healthy, community-dwelling men and women age 50 and older.Measurements IL-6 and negative affect at rest and following a series of challenging cognitive tests; sleep quality; depressive symptoms; perceived stress; loneliness.Results Participants categorized as poor sleepers on the basis of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores had significantly larger IL-6 responses to the cognitive stressors than good sleepers. The association between poor sleep and heightened IL-6 response to acute stress was not explained by other psychosocial factors previously linked to immune dysregulation, including depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and loneliness.Conclusions Findings add to the growing evidence for poor sleep as an independent risk factor for poor mental and physical health. Older adults may be particularly vulnerable to effects of sleep disturbance due to significant age-related changes in both sleep and inflammatory regulation.
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Some reports show increased numbers of lymphocyte subsets (CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, and NK cells), particularly when measured in the evening after a regular night of sleep.
“However, there are some reports of increased numbers of lymphocyte subsets (i.e., CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, and NK cells), particularly when measured in the evening after a regular night of sleep (152, 234, 418, 556, 580).”
From The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease (2019) · cites this paper as [234]
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- Authors
- Heffner, K. L., Ng, H. M., Suhr, J. A., France, C. R., Marshall, G. D., Pigeon, W. R., & Moynihan, J. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Rochester Medicine (US)
- Ohio University (US)
- University of Mississippi Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Heffner, Kathi L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-09
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 744-752
- ISSN
- 1064-7481 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3588882
- OpenAlex
- W2073029329
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 6.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R24AG031089, R03AG030029)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- sleep disorders, older adults, interleukin-6, acute stress, cognitive stress, inflammation, sleep quality, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, loneliness, immune dysregulation, aging
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Depression, Female, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Loneliness, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Stress, Psychological, Interleukin-6, Linear Models, Self Report
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