title: Sleep disorder or simple sleep ontogeny? Tendency for morningness is associated with worse sleep quality in the elderly.
abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the alterations in sleep and circadian parameters during the aging process. The study sample comprises volunteers older than 18 up to 90 years of age that answered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Horne and Östberg circadian preference questionnaire. We observed that the shift to morningness with increasing age is associated with a significant worsening in sleep quality. We discuss that this sleep profile characterized by morningness and worse sleep quality observed in elderly, when compared to younger people, reflects not necessarily a pathological state, but an expected profile for this age group.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil.
authors.forename: M A L
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Miguel
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Sabino
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Geriatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Cendoroglo
authors.affiliation: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pedrazzoli
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult