Timing, Duration and Quality of sleep, and Level of Daytime sleepiness in 1166 Retired seniors.

A telephone survey of 1166 community resident seniors (658 male, 508 female, age between 65 and 97 years, mean 74.8 years) was undertaken, which included among other components telephone versions of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the Sleep Timing Questionnaire (STQ). The median PSQI score was 5 and the median ESS score 6, suggesting that neither sleep problems, nor daytime sleepiness problems, were particularly prevalent in this sample of seniors.

Shiftworkers report worse sleep than day workers, even in retirement.

The aim of this study was to explore how the level of shiftwork exposure during an individual's working life might be related to subjectively reported sleep quality and timing during retirement. Telephone interviews regarding past employment and sleep timing and quality (among other variables) were conducted using a pseudo-random age-targeted sampling process. Subjective sleep quality was assessed using a telephone version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Circadian type and bed-timing regularity in 654 retired seniors: correlations with subjective sleep measures.

Study Objectives: Using telephone interview data from retired seniors to explore how inter-individual differences in circadian type (morningness) and bed-timing regularity might be related to subjective sleep quality and quantity.

Design: MANCOVA with binary measures of morningness, stability of bedtimes, and stability of rise-times as independent variables; sleep measures as dependent variables; age, former shift work, and gender as covariates.

Setting: Telephone interviews using a pseudo-random age-targeted sampling process.