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/ Health News / 2007 / October 2007 / October 2, 2007 Disrupted sleep linked to poorer daytime functions in older women |
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A new study has linked disturbed sleep in older women to poor physical function during the daytime.
Washington, Oct 02: A new study has linked disturbed sleep in older women to poor physical function during the daytime.
The University of Pittsburgh research was based on 2,889 women in which the subjects wore actigraphs, which measured sleep variables including total sleep time and hours awake after sleep onset during the night and daytime napping behaviour.
Neuromuscular performance measurements included gait speed; chair stands and grip strength, while functional limitations were assessed as self-reported difficulty with one or more of six instrumental activities of daily living.
According to the results, women who slept less than six hours per night walked 3.5 percent slower than those who slept six to 6.8 hours; while those who slept greater than or equal to seven-and-a-half hours took 4.1 percent longer to complete five chair stands than those who slept 6.8 to seven-and-a-half hours.
With higher wake after sleep onset, gait speed was 9.1 percent slower. It took 7.6 percent longer to complete five chair stands, and odds of functional limitation were 1.8 percent higher.
Women with one to 1.8 hours of daytime sleep had higher odds of a functional limitation than those with less than 0.5 hours.
"The results suggest that those women with more disrupted sleep as characterized by shorter sleep duration and longer wake time during the night, and those with greater daytime sleepiness as characterized by napping behaviour, were at greater risk for poorer neuromuscular performance and poorer daytime function," said Dr. Goldman.
"Women with objective measures of poor sleep had more trouble performing independent activities of daily living. These results held up even after adjustment for multiple confounders and other explanatory variables," she added.
Some of the other common sleep disorders in older adults includes-insomnia, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which can elevate the risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and cognitive problems.
Restless legs syndrome, where one experiences uncomfortable feelings in the legs, periodic limb movement disorder, a condition that causes people to jerk and kick their legs every 20-40 seconds during sleep.
Various other problems among older adults who have poor night time sleep are depressed mood, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more night time falls and use more over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids.
In addition to this lack of sleep is also associated with serious health problems such as an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The study appears in the journal Sleep.
ANI
