Napping and 24‐Hour Sleep/Wake Patterns in Healthy Elderly and Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: To examine differences between healthy elderly and young adults in daytime napping, nocturnal sleep, and 24‐hour sleep/wake patterns. A second objective was to determine whether elderly subjects with more and less frequent naps differed in their clinical features or nocturnal sleep. Design: Survey by sleep/wake logs and polysomnography. Comparison by age. Setting: Sleep/wake logs were completed in the subjects' homes. Polysomnographic studies were conducted on an outpatient basis in a sleep and chronobiology research laboratory. Subjects: Convenience samples of forty‐five healthy subjects over 78 years of age (21M, 24F) and 33 healthy adults between 20 and 30 years of age (20M, 13F). Main Outcome Measures: Using self‐reports, we estimated the frequency and timing of daytime naps; timing, duration, and quality of nocturnal sleep; and 24‐hour patterns of sleep and wakefulness. Also Polysomnographic sleep measures. Results: Compared to young adults, elderly subjects reported a greater mean number of daytime naps ( P = .004), shorter nocturnal sleep with more wakefulness and earlier sleep hours ( P < .003 for each), and a trend for a shorter 24‐hour sleep fraction. Among the elderly, more‐frequent and less‐frequent nappers did not differ in clinical ratings, self‐report sleep measures, or polysomnographic measures. There was a trend for more sleep‐disordered breathing and periodic limb movements in more frequent nappers. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with an age‐related decrease in amplitude of the circadian sleep propensity rhythm, or with the expression of a semi‐circadian (12‐hour) sleepiness rhythm. However, we cannot exclude the additional possibility that napping results from lifestyle factors and nocturnal sleep pathologies in a subset of the elderly.