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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Eye Tracking, Cortisol, and a Sleep vs. Wake Consolidation Delay: Combining Methods to Uncover an Interactive Effect of Sleep and Cortisol on Memory
Published on: June 18, 2014
Emotion in younger and older adults: retrospective and prospective associations with sleep and physical activity
Rebecca E Ready1, David X Marquez, Anna Akerstedt
1Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA. ready@psych.umass.edu
Abstract:
Older adults may have superior emotion regulation skills than younger adults and the authors suggest that as emotion regulation capacities increase with age, emotions may be less swayed by external events or even by internal traits. The current retrospective and prospective study further tested this hypothesis by determining if the emotions of younger adults were more reactive to two behaviors (i.e., physical activity, sleep) than for older adults. Results supported predictions. Specifically, retrospective self-reports and prospective diary data about physical activity and sleep exhibited stronger associations with emotion for younger than older persons. Implications for emotional well-being across the life span are discussed.
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