Differences In Sleep Disturbance Research Articles

Sleep disturbances in a young adult population: can gender differences be explained by differences in psychological status?

To study the prevalence of reported sleep disturbances and the association between these complaints and psychological status, 529 randomly selected subjects aged 20-45 years were questioned about their sleep symptoms and psychological status by means of questionnaires. In this young population, feeling refreshed in the morning almost every day was reported by only 15.3%. Females reported a significantly longer mean total sleep time (TST) than males (F: 425 +/- 58 minutes, M: 403 +/- 50 minutes; p < 0.01). Despite this, the difference compared with the reported need of sleep was greater in females (56 +/- 62 minutes) than in males (40 +/- 51 minutes) (p < 0.05). Difficulties maintaining sleep (DMS, > or = 3/week) (F: 20.1%, M: 10.4%; p < 0.01), the absence of feeling refreshed in the morning (F: 36.2%, M: 26.8%; p < 0.05), and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) (F: 23.3%, M: 15.9%; p < 0.05) were significantly more common among females. According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, females suffered from anxiety more frequently than males (F: 32.8%, M: 18.9%; p < 0.001). An association was found between anxiety and many sleep disturbances. After making adjustments for age, smoking, snoring, gender and psychological status by means of multiple regression, the gender differences mentioned above remained significant. We conclude that despite a longer TST, females report insufficient sleep, EDS, DMS, and the absence of feeling refreshed in the morning more frequently than males. The higher prevalence of anxiety among females alone cannot explain the gender differences in sleep disturbances seen in this population.

Predicting noise-induced sleep disturbance

The findings of 21 studies of the effects of noise on sleep were reanalyzed in an effort to develop a quantitative dosage-response relationship. Large and systematic differences in sleep disturbance were observed between the findings of studies conducted in laboratory and in field settings. The influence of noise on sleep was also found to depend on additional factors such as the nature of noise and response metrics, noise source, background noise level, length of study, and sex of test participants. No reliable quantitative model for sleep disturbance could be developed from the studies reviewed.

Comparison of the side‐effects of pindolol and atenolol in the treatment of hypertension

A double-blind multicentre study of 349 hypertensive patients was performed to compare the side-effects of the two beta-blockers atenolol (selective beta 1-blocker) and pindolol (beta 1- and beta 2-blocker with Intrinsic sympathomimetic activity (ISA] in equipotential doses (100 mg atenolol vs. 15 mg pindolol). Male and female patients aged 20-65 years with essential hypertension WHO stages I and II were included. Patients were examined 1 and 6 months after the start of treatment, and side-effects were recorded. The antihypertensive effect was similar for the two drugs. After 1 month there was significantly less bradycardia (P less than 0.01), cold hands and feet (P less than 0.05) and tiredness (P less than 0.02) in the pindolol group, and less sleep disturbance (P less than 0.02) in the atenolol group. After 6 months there was no significant difference in sleep disturbance, but the differences in the other side-effects remained significant.