Loneliness Linked To Disrupted Sleep A blank wall of social and professional antagonism faces the woman physician that forms a situation of singular and painful loneliness, leaving her without support, respect or professional counsel. Loneliness is significantly associated with sleep fragmentation, but not sleep duration or subjective sleep measures. Lianne M. Kurina, Ph.D., from the University of Chicago, and colleagues investigated whether loneliness was associated with sleep fragmentation or sleep duration. A total of 95 individuals from a communal society, with a mean age of 39.8 years, were interviewed about loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress; and subjective sleep measures (sleep quality and daytime sleepiness) were assessed. Objective sleep properties, including sleep fragmentation and sleep duration, were measured using a wrist actigraph worn by the participants for one week.
The investigators found that, after controlling for age, gender, body mass index, risk of sleep apnea, and negative affect (comprising symptoms of depression and anxiety, and perceived stress), higher loneliness scores correlated with significantly higher levels of sleep fragmentation. There was no association of loneliness with sleep duration, or with either subjective sleep measure. A new US study reports this week that loneliness is linked to sleep disruption: people who scored themselves high on loneliness were also the ones whose monitored sleep patterns were most fragmented. Reporting their findings in the 1 November issue of the journal Sleep, lead author Dr Lianne Kurina, of the Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago, and colleagues found however, that loneliness does not appear to be linked to duration of sleep.
Medicine
In a press release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Kurina said that:
"The relationship between loneliness and restless sleep appears to operate across the range of perceived connectedness."
"Our study provides evidence that those individuals who perceive themselves as less connected to others have more fragmented sleep. Sleep could be a pathway through which perceived social isolation influences health," the authors write. Loneliness is about perceived social isolation, feeling like an outcast, and reflects the difference between what a person wants and what they actually have in their social connections with others.
health
"Whether you're a young student at a major university or an older adult living in a rural community, we may all be dependent on feeling secure in our social environment in order to sleep soundly," said Kurina, adding that the findings of studies like these help us further understand how social and psychological factors impact our health.
While these conclusions seem plausible we should however, remind ourselves that this was a cross-sectional study and thus at the most can only assert whether links are strong or not: it cannot establish the direction of cause and effect.
Loneliness Linked To Disrupted Sleep
For example, an equally scientific explanation from these results could be as follows: disrupted sleep affects mood in a way that makes people less likely to engage with others to the level that they would like. This may seem less plausible, but the study is not of a design that can rule this out.
The investigators found that, after controlling for age, gender, body mass index, risk of sleep apnea, and negative affect (comprising symptoms of depression and anxiety, and perceived stress), higher loneliness scores correlated with significantly higher levels of sleep fragmentation. There was no association of loneliness with sleep duration, or with either subjective sleep measure. A new US study reports this week that loneliness is linked to sleep disruption: people who scored themselves high on loneliness were also the ones whose monitored sleep patterns were most fragmented. Reporting their findings in the 1 November issue of the journal Sleep, lead author Dr Lianne Kurina, of the Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago, and colleagues found however, that loneliness does not appear to be linked to duration of sleep.
Medicine
In a press release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Kurina said that:
"The relationship between loneliness and restless sleep appears to operate across the range of perceived connectedness."
"Our study provides evidence that those individuals who perceive themselves as less connected to others have more fragmented sleep. Sleep could be a pathway through which perceived social isolation influences health," the authors write. Loneliness is about perceived social isolation, feeling like an outcast, and reflects the difference between what a person wants and what they actually have in their social connections with others.
health
"Whether you're a young student at a major university or an older adult living in a rural community, we may all be dependent on feeling secure in our social environment in order to sleep soundly," said Kurina, adding that the findings of studies like these help us further understand how social and psychological factors impact our health.
While these conclusions seem plausible we should however, remind ourselves that this was a cross-sectional study and thus at the most can only assert whether links are strong or not: it cannot establish the direction of cause and effect.
Loneliness Linked To Disrupted Sleep
For example, an equally scientific explanation from these results could be as follows: disrupted sleep affects mood in a way that makes people less likely to engage with others to the level that they would like. This may seem less plausible, but the study is not of a design that can rule this out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment