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Sleep Complaints, Subjective and Objective Sleep Patterns, Health, Psychological Adjustment, and Daytime Functioning in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

¹ Center for Gerontological Studies and Department of Psychology
² College of Nursing
³ Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christina S. McCrae, Center for Gerontological Studies and Department of Psychology, University of Florida, McCarty C, Room 502, PO Box 115911, Gainesville, Florida, 32611-5911. E-mail: csmccrae{at}ufl.edu

We examined sleep complaints, subjective and objective sleep patterns, health, psychological adjustment, and daytime functioning in 103 community-dwelling older adults to identify factors associated with sleep complaints. We collected 2 weeks of sleep diaries and actigraphy. Only health distinguished complaining from noncomplaining sleepers. Noncomplaining good sleepers had poorer objective sleep quantity than complaining poor sleepers. Actigraphy distinguished noncomplaining good and complaining poor sleepers only. Subjective and objective sleep quantities were related for noncomplainers only; this relationship was stronger for women. Implications include a need for research exploring: 1. sleep complaints, sleep perceptions, and health; 2. interventions focusing on older individuals with insomnia secondary to/comorbid with poor health; 3. gender differences in subjective sleep estimates and in "single-shot" versus longitudinal sleep measures.

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