scholarly journals Experience of Poverty and Problem Sleep in Later Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 697-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen-Hao Chen

Older adults are more likely to report problem sleep, but little is known about how the economic challenges of old age affect sleep. Using data from the disability and use of time from the panel study of income dynamics ( N = 1,693), this study applied propensity score methods and the marginal structural model to estimate the associations between exposure to poverty and two measures of problem sleep: risky sleep duration and difficulty falling asleep. Poverty, irrespective of duration of exposure, had little impact on short sleep duration. Exposure to poverty, however, was associated with increased likelihood of long sleep duration on weekends and having difficulty falling asleep on both weekdays and weekends, especially for older adults who were exposed to poverty for 5 or more years. Findings suggest that economic hardship of old age may be a social structural obstacle for healthy sleep.

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNY DE JONG GIERVELD ◽  
PEARL A. DYKSTRA

ABSTRACTGerontologists have emphasised that older adults are not only recipients of support but also important support providers. Using data from the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study of 727 middle-generation adults aged 45 to 79 years, we examined the associations between loneliness and giving support up, across and down family lineages. Overall, the findings were consistent more with an altruism perspective, that giving brings rewards, than with an exchange perspective, which emphasises the costs of giving support. The results showed an inverse relationship between the number of generations supported and loneliness, and that those engaged in balanced exchanges with family members in three generations (parents, siblings and children) were generally the least lonely. As regards the direction of support giving, the findings showed that the association between giving support and loneliness was insignificant if the support was for parents, negative for support to siblings, and positive for support to children. Imbalanced support exchanges were differentially associated with loneliness, and depended on the type of family relationship involved. Non-reciprocated support made parents more vulnerable to loneliness, whereas non-reciprocated giving in sibling ties was associated with low levels of loneliness. Imbalanced support giving in relationships with parents was not associated with loneliness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Séverine Sabia ◽  
Aurore Fayosse ◽  
Julien Dumurgier ◽  
Vincent T. van Hees ◽  
Claire Paquet ◽  
...  

AbstractSleep dysregulation is a feature of dementia but it remains unclear whether sleep duration prior to old age is associated with dementia incidence. Using data from 7959 participants of the Whitehall II study, we examined the association between sleep duration and incidence of dementia (521 diagnosed cases) using a 25-year follow-up. Here we report higher dementia risk associated with a sleep duration of six hours or less at age 50 and 60, compared with a normal (7 h) sleep duration, although this was imprecisely estimated for sleep duration at age 70 (hazard ratios (HR) 1.22 (95% confidence interval 1.01–1.48), 1.37 (1.10–1.72), and 1.24 (0.98–1.57), respectively). Persistent short sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 compared to persistent normal sleep duration was also associated with a 30% increased dementia risk independently of sociodemographic, behavioural, cardiometabolic, and mental health factors. These findings suggest that short sleep duration in midlife is associated with an increased risk of late-onset dementia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lieve T. van Egmond ◽  
Olga E. Titova ◽  
Eva Lindberg ◽  
Tove Fall ◽  
Christian Benedict

AbstractPreliminary findings suggest that pets may impact the owner’s sleep. By using data from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bIoimage Study (SCAPIS) cohort, we aimed to investigate the association of pet ownership with the following self-reported sleep outcomes in 3788 to 4574 participants: (i) achieving the recommended daily sleep duration for adults (i.e., at least 7 h per day); (ii) sleep quality as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (a score of > 5 indicating poor sleep quality); and (iii) difficulty falling or staying asleep. Sleep metrics were not associated with pet ownership, dog ownership, and dog walking when controlling the logistic regression for possible confounders (e.g., shift work, lack of social interaction, and chronic stress). In contrast, cat ownership was associated with a higher odds ratio of failing to achieve the recommended duration of 7 h of sleep per day (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]:1.18 [1.02, 1.37] versus non-cat owners). Our findings suggest that certain pet groups might have a more significant impact on the owner’s sleep than others. As the observed association between cat ownership and short sleep duration might be a chance finding, this observation should be seen as hypothesis-generating only.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A211-A211
Author(s):  
Nyree Riley ◽  
Dana Alhasan ◽  
W Braxton Jackson ◽  
Chandra Jackson

Abstract Introduction Food insecurity may influence sleep through poor mental health (e.g., depression) and immune system suppression. Although prior studies have found food insecurity to be associated with poor sleep, few studies have investigated the food security-sleep association among racially/ethnically diverse participants and with multiple sleep dimensions. Methods Using National Health Interview Survey data, we examined overall, age-, sex/gender-, and racial/ethnic-specific associations between food insecurity and sleep health. Food security was categorized as very low, low, marginal, and high. Sleep duration was categorized as very short (<6 hours), short (<7 hours), recommended (7–9 hours), and long (≥9 hours). Sleep disturbances included trouble falling and staying asleep, insomnia symptoms, waking up feeling unrested, and using sleep medication (all ≥3 days/times in the previous week). Adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and other confounders, we used Poisson regression with robust variance to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for sleep dimensions by very low, low, and marginal vs. high food security. Results The 177,435 participants’ mean age was 47.2±0.1 years, 52.0% were women, 68.4% were Non-Hispanic (NH)-White. Among individuals reporting very low food security, 75.4% had an annual income of <$35,000 and 60.3% were ≥50 years old. After adjustment, very low vs. high food security was associated with a higher prevalence of very short (PR=2.61 [95%CI: 2.44–2.80]) and short (PR=1.66 [95% CI: 1.60–1.72]) sleep duration. Very low vs. high food security was associated with both trouble falling asleep (PR=2.21 [95% CI: 2.12–2.30]) and trouble staying asleep (PR=1.98 [95% CI: 1.91–2.06]). Very low vs. high food security was associated with higher prevalence of very short sleep duration among Asians (PR=3.64 [95% CI: 2.67–4.97]), Whites (PR=2.73 [95% CI: 2.50–2.99]), Blacks (PR=2.03 [95% CI: 1.80–2.31]), and Hispanic/Latinxs (PR=2.65 [95% CI: 2.30–3.07]). Conclusion Food insecurity was associated with poor sleep in a diverse sample of the US population. Support (if any):


2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-469
Author(s):  
Eric M. Vogelsang ◽  
Joseph T. Lariscy

Researchers and practitioners often extol the health benefits of social relationships and social participation for older adults. Yet they often ignore how these same bonds and activities may contribute to negative health behaviors. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (16,065 observations from 7,007 respondents), we examined how family characteristics, family history, and social participation predicted three measures of alcohol abuse between ages 53 and 71. Results indicate that, generally, greater social participation is associated with increased drinking days per month. We also found that religious participation and having ever lived with an alcoholic are each associated with reporting possible alcohol dependence but not with alcohol consumption itself. Lastly, we identified gendered associations between marital dissolution and drinking behavior. These findings contextualize the increasing rates of alcohol abuse among older adults by emphasizing the possible negative consequences of “linked lives” on health via relationship stress and group norms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1066-1071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sho Nakakubo ◽  
H. Makizako ◽  
T. Doi ◽  
K. Tsutsumimoto ◽  
R. Hotta ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Brienne Miner ◽  
Katie L. Stone ◽  
Jamie M. Zeitzer ◽  
Ling Han ◽  
Margaret Doyle ◽  
...  

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A53-A53
Author(s):  
C Holingue ◽  
N T Mueller ◽  
T Tanaka ◽  
M K Differding ◽  
C W Chia ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction The gut microbiome is believed to play an important role in health and disease, yet little is known about the link between sleep and the gut microbiome in humans. We investigated the association of self-reported sleep with gut microbiome composition and diversity in a cohort of well-functioning older adults. Methods We studied 791 participants (mean age = 71.5±12.0 years, 55% women) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging with self-report sleep measures and whole-genome DNA sequencing of stool samples. Predictors (modeled as continuous variables) included insomnia symptoms from the Women’s Health Initiative Insomnia Rating Scale (WHIIRS), sleep duration (<5, 5–6, 6–7, >7 hours), and frequency of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). We tested their association with gut microbiome diversity (Shannon index) and relative abundance of individual taxa using Kendall Tau Correlation. Next, we assessed whether these sleep variables were associated with overall microbiome structure (Bray-Curtis), adjusting for age, sex, race, education, BMI, depressive symptoms, and number of comorbidities. Results Sleep duration was associated with overall microbiome composition (p<0.01), with longer sleep duration associated with lower biodiversity of microbes in the gut (p<0.05). In phylum-level analyses, higher WHIIRS total (i.e., more severe insomnia) was associated with lower relative abundance of Actinobacteria, while more frequent EDS was associated with lower relative abundance of Fusobacteria. More frequent trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, early waking, poorer sleep quality and higher WHIIRS total were associated with lower abundance of Synergistetes (all p<0.05). Conclusion In well-functioning older adults, self-reported sleep duration, symptoms of insomnia, and EDS were associated with microbiome diversity and composition. The phylum Synergistetes, which has been associated with protective humoral immune response in prior literature, may be an important correlate of insomnia symptoms in older adults. Future investigations are needed to examine the gut microbiome as a driver or mediator of sleep-health associations. Support This study was supported in part by National Institute on Aging (NIA) grant R01AG050507, the NIA Intramural Research Program (IRP), and Research and Development Contract HHSN-260-2004-00012C.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A439-A439
Author(s):  
Y Leng ◽  
K Yaffe ◽  
S Ackley ◽  
M Glymour ◽  
W Brenowitz

Abstract Introduction Sleep disturbances including short sleep duration are common in older adults, especially in those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it is unclear to what extent sleep duration is a manifestation of AD disease process. We examined whether genetic variants related to AD influence sleep duration in middle-aged and older adults and estimated the causal effects of AD on sleep duration using a mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods We examined 406,687 UK Biobank participants with Caucasian genetic ancestry who self-reported sleep duration at baseline (2006-2010). Sleep duration was assessed by asking: “About how many hours sleep do you get in every 24 hours? (please include naps).” A genetic risk score for AD (AD-GRS) was calculated as a weighted sum of 23 previously identified AD-related single nucleotide polymorphisms in individuals of European ancestry. We evaluated whether AD-GRS predicted sleep duration using linear regression, adjusting for age, sex and principle components for genetic ancestry. We also stratified the analysis by age at baseline (≤55y or >55y) and conducted a MR analysis to estimate the effect of AD (ICD-9/10 codes for AD/dementia diagnosis) on sleep duration. Results The participants (aged 56.91±8.00y) had an average sleep duration of 7.2 (Standard deviation [SD]=1.1) hours and AD-GRS of 0.11 (SD=0.40) (range: -1.15~1.85). Higher AD-GRS score predicted shorter sleep duration (b= -0.013, 95%CI:-0.022,-0.005), mainly among those aged over 55y (b= -0.023, 95%CI:-0.034,-0.012) and not in those 55y or younger (b= 0.006, 95%CI:-0.012,0.013); p for interaction by age=0.02. MR analysis using AD-GRS as an instrumental variable suggested that AD was associated with 1.76 hrs (b=-1.76, -2.62~ -0.90) shorter sleep duration in those aged >55y. Conclusion Using a novel analytical approach, we found that higher genetic risk for AD predicted shorter sleep duration among older adults. This suggests shared genetic pathways; the biologic processes that lead to AD may also affect sleep duration. Support Dr. Leng received support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) 1K99AG056598, and from GBHI, Alzheimer’s Association, and Alzheimer’s Society (GBHI ALZ UK-19-591141).


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobo Á. Rubio-Arias ◽  
Raquel Rodríguez-Fernández ◽  
Luis Andreu ◽  
Luis M. Martínez-Aranda ◽  
Alejandro Martínez-Rodriguez ◽  
...  

Sarcopenia is an age-related condition. However, the prevalence of sarcopenia may increase due to a range of other factors, such as sleep quality/duration. Therefore, the aim of the study is to conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of sarcopenia in older adults based on their self-reported sleep duration. Methods: Three electronic databases were used—PubMed-Medline, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. We included studies that measured the prevalence of sarcopenia, divided according to sleep quality and excluded studies (a) involving populations with neuromuscular pathologies, (b) not showing prevalence values (cases/control) on sarcopenia, and (c) not including classificatory models to determine sleep quality. Results: high prevalence values in older adults with both long and short sleep duration were shown. However, prevalence values were higher in those with inadequate sleep (<6–8 h or low efficiency) (OR 0.76; 95% CI (0.70–0.83); Q = 1.446; p = 0.695; test for overall effect, Z = 6.01, p < 0.00001). Likewise, higher prevalence levels were shown in men (OR 1.61; 95% CI (0.82–3.16); Q = 11.80; p = 0.0189) compared to women (OR 0.77; 95% CI (0.29–2.03); Q = 21.35; p = 0.0003). Therefore, the prevalence of sarcopenia appears to be associated with sleep quality, with higher prevalence values in older adults who have inadequate sleep.


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