Most current models in health psychology assume that stress adversely affects physical health. We re-examined this assumption by reviewing extensive data from the literature and from six samples of our own, in which we collected measures of personality, health and fitness, stress, and current emotional functioning. Results indicate that self-report health measures reflect a pervasive mood disposition of negative affectivity (NA); self-report stress scales also contain a substantial NA component. However, although NA is correlated with health compliant scales, it is not strongly or consistently related to actual, long-term health status, and thus will act as a general nuisance factor in health research. Because self-report measures of stress and health both contain a significant NA component, correlations between such measures likely overestimate the true association between stress and health. Results demonstrate the importance of including different types of health measures in health psychology research.

Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity.

To determine whether a cumulative sleep debt (in a range commonly experienced) would result in cumulative changes in measures of waking neurobehavioral alertness, 16 healthy young adults had their sleep restricted 33% below habitual sleep duration, to an average 4.98 hours per night [standard deviation (SD) = 0.57] for seven consecutive nights. Subjects slept in the laboratory, and sleep and waking were monitored by staff and actigraphy. Three times each day (1000, 1600, and 2200 hours) subjects were assessed for subjective sleepiness (SSS) and mood (POMS) and were evaluated on a brief performance battery that included psychomotor vigilance (PVT), probed memory (PRM), and serial-addition testing, Once each day they completed a series of visual analog scales (VAS) and reported sleepiness and somatic and cognitive/emotional problems. Sleep restriction resulted in statistically robust cumulative effects on waking functions. SSS ratings, subscale scores for fatigue, confusion, tension, and total mood disturbance from the POMS and VAS ratings of mental exhaustion and stress were evaluated across days of restricted sleep (p = 0.009 to p = 0.0001). PVT performance parameters, including the frequency and duration of lapses, were also significantly increased by restriction (p = 0.018 to p = 0.0001). Significant time-of-day effects were evident in SSS and PVT data, but time-of-day did not interact with the effects of sleep restriction across days. The temporal profiles of cumulative changes in neurobehavioral measures of alertness as a function of sleep restriction were generally consistent. Subjective changes tended to precede performance changes by 1 day, but overall changes in both classes of measure were greatest during the first 2 days (P1, P2) and last 2 days (P6, P7) of sleep restriction. Data from subsets of subjects also showed: 1) that significant decreases in the MSLT occurred during sleep restriction, 2) that the elevated sleepiness and performance deficits continued beyond day 7 of restriction, and 3) that recovery from these deficits appeared to require two full nights of sleep. The cumulative increase in performance lapses across days of sleep restriction correlated closely with MSLT results (r = -0.95) from an earlier comparable experiment by Carskadon and Dement (1). These findings suggest that cumulative nocturnal sleep debt had a dynamic and escalating analog in cumulative daytime sleepiness and that asymptotic or steady-state sleepiness was not achieved in response to sleep restriction.

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Cumulative sleepiness, mood disturbance, and psychomotor vigilance performance decrements during a week of sleep restricted to 4-5 hours per night

Daily mood ratings and corresponding diary entries were studied to determine relations between common events and two independent mood factors--Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA)--in a sample of 18 young adults over a 3-month period. In an extension of findings from earlier interindividual studies, PA (enthusiastic, delighted vs. sluggish, drowsy) was found to be associated with a wide range of daily events, whereas fewer correlations were found between these events and NA (distressed, nervous, angry vs. calm, relaxed). The relation between high PA and reported social interactions (particularly physically active social events) was especially robust, and its effects were noted repeatedly; NA was unrelated to social activity. As hypothesized, high NA was associated with physical problems; contrary to expectations, low PA also tended to be correlated with health complaints. Overall, the results reaffirm the importance of assessing NA and PA independently and suggest that PA is an interesting and important dimension that deserves more research attention. Theoretical considerations and clinical implications are discussed.

Mood and the mundane: relations between daily life events and self-reported mood.

ObjectiveTo compare age-adjusted and ethnic differences in prevalences of sleep difficulty at various stages of the menopausal transition and to determine the relative contribution of other factors, including vasomotor symptoms, sociodemographics, and psychological and physical health factor

Sleep difficulty in women at midlife: a community survey of sleep and the menopausal transition.

College students are known for their variable sleep schedules. Such schedules, along with other common student practices (e.g., alcohol and caffeine consumption), are associated with poor sleep hygiene. Researchers have demonstrated in clinical populations that improving sleep hygiene knowledge and practices is an effective treatment for insomnia. However, researchers who have examined relationships between sleep hygiene and practices in nonclinical samples and overall sleep quality have produced inconsistent findings, perhaps because of questionable measures. In this study, the authors used psychometrically sound instruments to examine these variables and to counter the shortcomings in previous investigations. Their findings suggest that knowledge of sleep hygiene is related to sleep practices, which, in turn, is related to overall sleep quality. The data from their regression modeling indicated that variable sleep schedules, going to bed thirsty, environmental noise, and worrying while falling asleep contribute to poor sleep quality.

Relationship of Sleep Hygiene Awareness, Sleep Hygiene Practices, and Sleep Quality in University Students

The relative effects of extended sleep, sleep deprivation, and shifts of accustomed sleep time on subsequent performance and mood were studied. Ten regular 2400–0800 sleepers worked on E-paced addition and vigilance tasks, and completed an adjective check list to rate their mood following 2100-0800 extended, 2100-0500 advanced-shift, 2400-0800 habitual, 0300-0800 deprivation, and 0300-1100 delayed-shift conditions of sleep. Accuracy and speed of response on the vigilance task were significantly poorer, and negative affect was significantly greater after the conditions of shifted sleep and altered sleep duration than after the habitual sleep condition. Changes in the mood and performance measures were unrelated to prior sleep length or any specific alterations in the electrophysiological patterns of sleep.

Performance and mood following variations in the length and timing of sleep.

Sleep stage patterns associated with acute shifts in the sleep-wakefulness cycle.

Diurnal variations in mood as asserted by self-report and verbal content analysis.

The sleep-wakefulness patterns of 257 Mexican males and females ranging in age from the 20s to 80s was studied using a questionnaire. The average duration of sleep exceeded that typically prescribed for other Western cultures (8 hours per 24), and significantly varied with age decreasing from the 20s to 50s, after which there was an increase. There was a significantly greater incidence of sleep disturbance in subjects over 50 Compared to the other Ss the post-awakening mood of those with sleep disturbance and those over 50 was described by a significantly greater frequency of negative affect. Significant age and sex differences were found for the frequency of dream recall. The duration and frequency of daytime naps in Ss of all age groups revealed the presence of a polycyclic sleep-wakefulness cycle which has not been reported with such generality in other Western cultures.

John M. Taub

Papers

Performance and mood following variations in the length and timing of sleep.

Sleep stage patterns associated with acute shifts in the sleep-wakefulness cycle.

Diurnal variations in mood as asserted by self-report and verbal content analysis.

The sleep wakefulness cycle in mexican adults

The Sleep-Wakefulness Cycle in Mexican Adults