A biobehavioral framework for examining altered sleep-wake patterns in homeless women

The interactions among psychosocial and environmental stressors and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-ovarian-immune axes may provide a framework for examining altered sleep-wake patterns in women. Based on this biobehavioral framework, homeless women represent a subgroup of the female population who have many lifestyle factors that might make them vulnerable to sleep disturbances. This article presents a study designed to investigate the self-reported sleep patterns and lifestyle factors associated with the sleep of 50 homeless women, 18-44 years of age, residing in the downtown area of Los Angeles. Results indicated that almost half of the women slept six or less hours a day and had a day/night sleep pattern. A majority of the women reported restless sleep. Drinking beer, using cocaine, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and concerns about safety and money were factors significantly related to altered sleep patterns.