title: Slow-wave sleep and waking cognitive performance among older adults with and without insomnia complaints.
abstract: Previous research has shown that healthy young adults with relatively fast reaction times on daytime testing have significantly more nocturnal slow-wave sleep than do age-matched subjects with relatively slow reaction times on such testing. The current study was conducted to examine the relationship between slow-wave sleep and cognitive performance among older adults with and without insomnia complaints. A sample of 32 noncomplaining older (age > or = 60 years) normal sleepers and a like-aged sample of 32 insomniacs, recruited to participate in a larger study, served as subjects. All subjects underwent nocturnal sleep monitoring immediately prior to undergoing a battery of daytime tests that measured simple reaction time, vigilance/signal detection, and complex reaction time. Results from the normal sleepers showed no relationship between daytime cognitive performance measures and a variety of computer-derived nocturnal slow-wave sleep measures. In contrast, insomniac subjects with relatively slow reaction times showed relative deficits in a spectral analytically derived measure of slow-wave power in the 2 to 4 Hz bandwidth. These results suggest that relative performance deficits among some older insomniacs may be related to specific slow-wave sleep deficiencies. However, among older normal sleepers, intersubject differences in performance appear unrelated to slow-wave sleep measures. Additional research is needed to further explore the possible restorative role slow-wave sleep may serve for cognitive functions other than those examined herein.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs, Durham, NC 27705, USA.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Crenshaw
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Edinger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*