Sleep and cognitive functions in normal older adults.
Data on cognitive and sleep variables were collected from a large, normal aging sample. The sleep and cognitive variables selected for the study had all been demonstrated previously to be sensitive to aging processes. Only two sleep variables, number of awakenings and time in Stage 1 sleep, correlated with cognitive scores. The limited number of relationships between sleep and cognitive variables was interpreted as consistent with the discontinuity hypothesis. This formulation suggests that relationships between biological and psychological measures are only present after a threshold of deterioration in the biological substrates is passed. Thus the paucity of relationships between the two variable classes is predicted in this normal aging sample.
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003071:Cognition; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep; D012894:Sleep Stages; D014888:Wechsler Scales