Regularity of daily life in relation to personality, age, gender, sleep quality and circadian rhythms.
A diary-like instrument to measure lifestyle regularity (the 'Social Rhythm Metric'-SRM) was given to 96 subjects (48 women, 48 men), 39 of whom repeated the study after at least one year, with additional objective measures of rest/activity. Lifestyle regularity as measured by the SRM related to age, morningness, subjective sleep quality and time-of-day variations in alertness, but not to gender, extroversion or neuroticism. Statistically significant test-retest correlations of about 0.4 emerged for SRM scores over the 12-30 month delay. Diary-based estimates of bedtime and waketime appeared fairly reliable. In a further study of healthy young men, 4 high SRM scorers ('regular') had a deeper nocturnal body temperature trough than 5 low SRM scorers ('irregular'), suggesting a better functioning circadian system in the 'regular' group.
Monk
T H
TH
Sleep and Chronobiology Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA.
Petrie
S R
SR
Hayes
A J
AJ
Kupfer
D J
DJ
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001831:Body Temperature; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003625:Data Collection; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors