Thesis
Sleep and everyday functioning in older adulthood
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101180
Abstract
As individuals age they report a significant number of problems with their sleep including less total sleep time and increased nighttime wakings. In addition, reduced sleep quality has been associated with increased risk for various medical conditions. While research has demonstrated significant relationships between cognitive performance and sleep quality, less research has focused on the implications of sleep quality on everyday functioning. In this study we explored relationships between sleep and everyday functioning in a cognitively healthy older adult population. More specifically, we compared three methods of sleep data collection (wrist actigraphy, self-report measures, and a sleep diary) and evaluated the relationship between the sleep measures and three approaches to assessing everyday functioning (direct observation, self-report, and paper and pencil-based problem-solving tasks). We found that sleep measures obtained through subjective methods correlated significantly with each other; however, correlations of subjective and objective measures of sleep did not achieve significance. In addition, older adults overestimated total sleep time and sleep onset latency when compared to objective evaluations of sleep. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that specific measures of sleep, specifically total sleep time, sleep onset latency, sleep quality and sleep efficiency, were not able to predict everyday performances in a healthy older adult population. These findings suggest that measures of sleep may not be highly related to everyday functioning in a healthy older adult sample or that sleep behaviors in older adults may demonstrate too great of individual variability to predict specific performance on activities of daily living. Further longitudinal evaluation is warranted to better understand relationships between changes in individual sleep patterns of older adults and subsequent effects on their everyday performance.
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Details
- Title
- Sleep and everyday functioning in older adulthood
- Creators
- Carolyn Marie Parsey
- Contributors
- Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525156801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis