Sleep-wake patterns among postmenopausal women: a 24-hour unattended polysomnographic study.
BACKGROUND
Circadian sleep-wake profiles in postmenopausal women were examined to explore relationships between nocturnal and out-of-bed sleep.


METHODS
Twenty-one home recordings were obtained with unattended polysomnography from women ranging from 56 to 77 years of age.


RESULTS
While maintaining their daily routines, volunteers slept an average of 439 minutes throughout the 24-hour recordings. Ten percent of the accumulated sleep time was recorded out of bed.


CONCLUSIONS
Greater age was associated with more afternoon-evening sleep. Sleep was also frequently observed shortly after volunteers arose from bed in the morning.
Jean-Louis
G
G
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0667, USA. gjeanlouis@ucsd.edu
Kripke
D F
DF
Assmus
J D
JD
Langer
R D
RD
D000368:Aged; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*