title: Gender Differences in Real-Home Sleep of Young and Older Couples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand gender differences in sleep quality, architecture and duration of young healthy couples in comparison to older couples in their natural sleep environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sleep was monitored in a naturalistic setting using a headband sleep monitoring device over a period of two weeks for young couples and home polysomnography for the older couples.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten heterosexual young couples (male mean age: 28.2±1.0[SD] years/female mean age: 26.8±0.9 years) and 14 older couples (male mean age: 59.3±9.6 years/female mean age: 58.8±9.1 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the young couples, total sleep time (395±66 vs. 367±54 min., p<0.05), sleep efficiency (97.0±3.0 vs. 91.1±7.9, p<0.001), and % REM (31.1±4.8 vs. 23.6±5.5, p<0.001) in males was higher than in females. In contrast, % light sleep (51.7±7.1 vs. 59.7±6.7, p<0.001) and number of arousals (2.9±1.9 vs. 5.3±1.9, p<0.001) were lower. These differences persisted after controlling for evening mood and various evening pre-sleep activities. In the older couples, there were no differences between genders. In addition, children in the household adversely impacted sleep.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In couples recorded in the home, young males slept longer and had better sleep quality than young females. This difference appears to dissipate with age. In-home assessment of couples can aid in understanding of gender differences in sleep and how they are affected by age and social environment.
authors.affiliation: Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.affiliation: Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA ; Arizona Respiratory Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA ; Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Stuart F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alex Sandy
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Pentland
authors.affiliation: Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE ; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Inas
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Khayal
keywords: REM; couples; gender; naturalistic setting; sleep sensing