Nocturnal Activity and Immobility across Aging (50–98 Years) in Healthy Persons

Abstract

Objective: To measure the influence of age on measures of nocturnal activity and immobility in 100 healthy subjects aged 50 to 98 years. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Urban population in Leiden. Recordings were performed at home while the subjects maintained their habitual 24-hour pattern of activities. Participants: 100 subjects without a history of major medical disorders and a normal neurological examination and performance-oriented assessment of gait (Tinetti). Measurements: Motor activity was recorded during six successive nights with a wrist-worn activity monitor. The occurrence of supra-threshold motor activity was recorded over 15-second epochs. A questionnaire was used to evaluate sleep habits and the occurrence of sleep disturbances. Four mean From the departments of *Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology of the Academic Hospital, and the departments of tMedical Statistics, $Physiology, and the section of §Gerontology

Sleep Complaints in Community‐Dwelling Older Persons: Prevalence, Associated Factors, and Reported Causes

“…Second, information about medical conditions was self‐reported and might have been affected by recall bias, although several authors support the reliability of information on health status reported in epidemiological studies 36–38 . Moreover, the prevalence rates of the diseases investigated are comparable to those previously reported, 39 and the association with sleep complaints was consistent with findings reported in other populations 1,3,7–9,12, 22–25, 27–30, 32–34,40,41 …”

Nonexercise movement in elderly compared with young people

“…Questionnaire-based studies have identified that age is inversely related to energy expenditure for occupation, that women may overvalue housework/caretaking activities in questionnaires, and that the utility in assessing free-living activity with questionnaires may still need to be established (3,11,21,36). There is one study focusing on nocturnal nonexercise movement in healthy elderly subjects that utilizes a wrist-worn activity monitor, suggesting that there is no effect of age in males on nocturnal nonexercise movment and that the duration of nocturnal immobility periods for females is greater than in males (47). Thus, prior to these studies little was known about nonexercise movement and healthy aging.…”

Impact of Poor Sleep on Physical and Mental Health in Older Women

“…However, it is not clear whether sleep-wake rhythms directly influence morbidity and mortality in aging, or are biomarkers of advanced physiological age. Indeed, van Hilten and colleagues 52 studied the relationship of age with nocturnal behavior in 100 healthy older adults and found that in the absence of illness, age itself has only marginal effects on sleep and wake.…”