1115 Sleep Misperception, Anxiety, And Sleep Quality

Introduction

Sleep misperception is a phenomenon often identified in insomnia literature, in which individuals subjective reporting does not match objective measurements of their own sleep. Research indicates that anxiety symptoms may play a role in sleep misperception. This study assessed the relationship between sleep misperception, sleep quality, and anxiety in a young adult population with sub-clinical insomnia and anxiety symptoms. Linear regression models examined the relationships between sleep quality, anxiety symptoms, and sleep misperception.

Methods

This sample consisted of 130 young adults recruited from a University in the Bronx, NY. Anxiety was assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Objective measures of sleep were collected via wrist-based actigraphy over a period of 7-14 days. Subjective sleep measures were collected via an online sleep diary. A misperception index was calculated to determine the discrepancy between subjective and objective sleep measures based on a formula established in previous research.

Results

Higher anxiety symptoms were associated with greater sleep disturbance. Higher sleep misperception was not associated with greater sleep disturbance. There was a significant, positive relationship between sleep misperception and anxiety symptoms (r=0.18, p=0.000). Gender emerged as an important covariate, with males exhibiting significantly higher sleep misperception and underestimating TST (M=-0.31, SD=0.22) compared to females (M=-0.18, SD=0.12).

Conclusion

Sleep misperception was not related to sleep quality, but was strongly related to anxiety symptoms in this population. In a sub-clinical young adult sample, sleep misperception is associated with anxiety but not sleep quality, and has significant gender differences. These findings contribute to sleep misperception literature with potential applications in diagnosis and treatment of insomnia and anxiety.

Support

n/a

Performance on a 1-week delayed recall task is associated with medial temporal lobe structures in neurologically normal older adults

OBJECTIVE

Traditional episodic memory tests employ a delayed recall length ranging from 10 to 30 min. The neurobiological process of memory consolidation extends well beyond these time intervals, however, raising the possibility that these tests might not be fully sensitive to the subtle neurocognitive changes found in early disease or age-related decline. We aimed to determine the sensitivity of a 1-week delayed recall paradigm to medial temporal lobe (MTL) structure among neurologically normal older adults.

METHODS

One hundred and forty functionally intact, older adults (mean age = 75.8) completed a story recall test in which participants learned to 90% criterion. Recall was tested after 30-min and 1-week. Participants also completed a standardized list learning task with a 20-min delay (n = 129) and a structural brain MRI. The MTL, including the parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, and entorhinal, was our primary region of interest.

RESULTS

Controlling for age, education, gender and total intracranial volume, the standard 20- and 30-min recalls showed no significant relationship with MTL. In contrast, 1-week recall was uniquely associated with MTL structure (partial r = .24, p = .006), specifically entorhinal (partial r = .27; p = .001) and hippocampal (partial r = .21, p = .02) volumes.

CONCLUSION

Memory paradigms that utilize 1-week delays are more sensitive than standard paradigms to MTL volumes in neurologically normal older adults. Longer delay periods may improve detection of memory consolidation abilities associated with age-related, and potentially pathological, neurobehavioral change.