Citation

Oosterman JM, Van someren EJW, Vogels RLC, Van harten B, Scherder EJA. J. Sleep Res. 2009; 18(1): 129-135.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, European Sleep Research Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2869.2008.00704.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Aging affects both cognitive performance and the sleep‐wake rhythm. The recent surge of studies that support a role of sleep for cognitive performance in healthy young adults suggests that disturbed sleep‐wake rhythms may contribute to ‘age‐related’ cognitive decline. This relationship has however not previously been extensively investigated. The present correlational study integrated a battery of standardized cognitive tests to investigate the association of mental speed, memory, and executive function with actigraphically recorded sleep‐wake rhythms in 144 home‐dwelling elderly participants aged 69.5 ± 8.5 (mean ± SD). Multiple regression analyses showed that the partial correlations of the fragmentation of the sleep‐wake rhythm with each of the three cognitive domains (r = −0.16, −0.19, and −0.16 respectively) were significant. These associations were independent from main effects of age, implying that a unique relationship between the rest‐activity rhythm and cognitive performance is present in elderly people.