Poor Sleep Quality and Mental Health in Aging

Introduction The significant aging of the world's population is a major health problem, so public health strategies focus on the multitude of symptoms that characterize aging, with particular attention to mental and physical health. Previous research has indicated that sleep problems tend to coexist with mental health problems later in life but is relatively little known about the relationships between sleep quality and mental health. Aims The study aims (a) to examine whether self-reported sleep quality and mental health in individuals with altered sleep were associated with aging; (b) to highlight whether age contributes to this relationship, highlighting different associative patterns. Method A total of 143 participants (48 elderly, 70.3±5.6 years; 52 middle-age, 54.3±6.3 years; 43 young adults, 26±4.6 years) with poor sleep quality were selected. Poor sleep quality was defined by a score greater than 5 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). After the anamnestic data collection, all participants filled in some questionnaires to evaluate depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), alexithymia (Twenty-Items Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20), trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI). Results ANOVA comparing Young adults, Middle age adults, and the Elderly with poor sleep quality revealed that the elderly presented higher poor sleep than Young adults (p< .03) and used more sleep medications than both Young adults and Middle age adults (p< .001). Regression analyses revealed that in young adults, medication use is mainly predicted by depression (R2= .36; p< .03) while in older adults by poor sleep quality (R2= .31; p< .03). Conclusions Different predictive patterns can be observed between young and older adults. These results could be useful for interventions aimed at improving sleep throughout the lifespan. The present findings are important because previous studies focused on transitions from good to poor sleep quality, whereas no study has identified the phenomena that characterize full-blown poor sleep quality.