As a social species, humans rely on a safe, secure social surround to survive and thrive. Perceptions of social isolation, or loneliness, increase vigilance for threat and heighten feelings of vulnerability while also raising the desire to reconnect. Implicit hypervigilance for social threat alters psychological processes that influence physiological functioning, diminish sleep quality, and increase morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this paper is to review the features and consequences of loneliness within a comprehensive theoretical framework that informs interventions to reduce loneliness. We review physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, mechanisms for its effects, and effectiveness of extant interventions. Features of a loneliness regulatory loop are employed to explain cognitive, behavioral, and physiological consequences of loneliness and to discuss interventions to reduce loneliness. Loneliness is not simply being alone. Interventions to reduce loneliness and its health consequences may need to take into account its attentional, confirmatory, and memorial biases as well as its social and behavioral effects.

/pdf/loneliness-matters-a-theoretical-and-empirical-review-of-444rlh0w5o.pdf

Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Empirical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms

Psychometric evaluation of the pittsburgh sleep quality index

Reduced opportunity for sleep and reduced sleep quality are frequently related to accidents involving shift-workers1,2,3 Poor-quality sleep and inadequate recovery leads to increased fatigue, decreased alertness and impaired performance in a variety of cognitive psychomotor tests4 However, the risks associated with fatigue are not well quantified Here we equate the performance impairment caused by fatigue with that due to alcohol intoxication, and show that moderate levels of fatigue produce higher levels of impairment than the proscribed level of alcohol intoxication

/pdf/fatigue-alcohol-and-performance-impairment-1uhepjsi38.pdf

Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment

Athens Insomnia Scale: validation of an instrument based on ICD-10 criteria

Sleep disturbances, work stress and work hours: A cross-sectional study

The present experiment used an intraindividual design to investigate the meaning and measurement of "good sleep" Each of 16 subjects slept in an isolation unit according to a schedule (15 sleeps) designed to give variable quality of sleep Self-rated sleep measures (from the Karolinska Sleep Diary) were obtained after each sleep and subjected to intraindividual regression analyses across time Most subjective sleep measures showed a strong covariation across conditions Subjective quality of sleep mainly involved variables of sleep continuity, in particular, perceived calmness of sleep and sleep efficiency "Sleep quality," "calm sleep," "ease of falling asleep," and ability to "sleep throughout" the time allotted strongly covaried and formed an index of sleep quality Self-rated ease of awakening deviated from the general pattern and was associated with poor sleep quality So was reported dreaming (related to awakenings) It was concluded that most subjective sleep measures tend to covary across conditions and that "good sleep" is mainly a question of sleep continuity

The subjective meaning of good sleep, an intraindividual approach using the Karolinska Sleep Diary.

The present study sought to investigate the meaning of subjectively good sleep, using a longitudinal and intraindividual design. Eight subjects slept in an isolation unit according to an irregular schedule of 6 h sleeps and 1 h naps, designed to give normal amounts of time in bed (1/3 of total), but variable sleep quality. Eight sleeps and eight naps were used for longitudinal simple and multiple regression analyses with standard polysomnographical sleep variables as predictors and subjective sleep quality as dependent variables. The results showed that subjective sleep quality (and related variables) was closely related to sleep efficiency, but not sleep stages. At least 87% efficiency was required for ratings of 'rather good' sleep. In addition, sleep quality ratings improved with closeness (of the awakening) to the circadian acrophase (17.00-21.00 hours) of the rectal temperature rhythm. The subjective ease of awakening differed from most other other variables in that it was related to low sleep efficiency. Objective and subjective homologues of sleep length and sleep latency showed high mean intraindividual correlations (r = 0.55 and 0.64, respectively). It was concluded that objective measures of sleep continuity were closely reflected in perceived sleep quality and that sleep quality essentially means sleep continuity.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2869.1994.tb00122.x

The meaning of good sleep: a longitudinal study of polysomnography and subjective sleep quality.

https://usir.salford.ac.uk/22964/1/Davies_et_al_PSP_overview_App_Acoust_post%2Dreferee.pdf

Perception of soundscapes: An interdisciplinary approach

SUMMARY The present study used short sleep episodes to explore the relation between subjective sleep quality, timing and physiological content of sleep. Eight subjects participated in 18 4-h sleep episodes to provide 4, 8, and 12 h of prior time awake before bedtimes at six different times of day in a sleep laboratory insulated from environmental disturbances. The results were analysed by ANOVAs and multiple regression techniques. Subjective sleep quality, calmness of sleep, ease of falling asleep, ability to ‘sleep through’, number of awakenings, and sleep latency showed a significant pattern of ‘better’ sleep with increasing prior time awake and with closeness to the circadian minimum (nadir) of rectal temperature (morning hours). ‘Ease of awakening’ in contrast, ‘decreased’ with increasing time awake and with closeness to the nadir/ morning hours. Multiple regression analysis showed that subjective sleep quality was predicted by subjective calmness of sleep and ease of falling asleep, among the subjective measures, and by total sleep time (TST) and slow-wave sleep (SWS – stages 3 +4) among the physiological sleep measures. The subjective ease of awakening was predicted by slow-wave sleep (negatively) and the circadian maximum of rectal temperature. The results indicate that the duration of wakefulness prior to sleep and the timing of sleep determine its physiological expression, which in turn determines its subjective impression.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2869.1997.00221.x

Good sleep--its timing and physiological sleep characteristics.

Soundwalking is a practice that was devised by R. Murray Schafer, when he established the World 
Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is an 
empirical method for identifying a soundscape and components of a soundscape in various 
locations. In the EPSRC-funded Positive Soundscapes Project (Davies et al, 2007) we have 
utilized and adapted this concept of soundwalking into a sociological methodology for identifying 
and understanding people’s experiences and perceptions of the acoustic urban environment. Our 
soundwalk is a walk around an urban area where the senses are directed towards the sounds that 
are heard rather than the more commonplace sights that are viewed. We focus on everyday 
practices, as people move around and within the city environment with a view to understanding their 
professional and/or personal impressions of the relationships between the soundscape and the built 
infrastructure. This paper describes the development of the soundwalking methodology and its use 
as a tool to engage professionals who work in the area of urban design and urban development 
(including city planners, developers, and architects). The paper does not report on the findings of 
this project as data collection is currently ongoing but rather reflects on the utility of soundwalking 
as a methodological practice.

/pdf/soundwalking-as-a-methodology-for-understanding-soundscapes-1d4doo8i45.pdf

Ken Hume

Papers

The subjective meaning of good sleep, an intraindividual approach using the Karolinska Sleep Diary.

The meaning of good sleep: a longitudinal study of polysomnography and subjective sleep quality.

Perception of soundscapes: An interdisciplinary approach

Good sleep--its timing and physiological sleep characteristics.

Soundwalking as a methodology for understanding soundscapes