Affect variability and sleep: Emotional ups and downs are related to a poorer night's rest

Many studies have documented the strong associations between well-being and mean levels of both positive and negative affect. A growing number of studies are examining how fluctuations in daily reported emotional experience, known as affect variability, is related to health outcomes. Sleep is a critical correlate of healthy in functioning in late life. This study examines associations between positive and negative affect variability and facets of self-reported sleep behavior among older adults.

Participants (N = 277) completed a 5 to 6 day ecological momentary assessment. The first survey upon waking asked participants about their sleep the previous night, and participants rated their positive and negative affect every three subsequent hours during waking hours.

Regression models indicate that greater variability in daily positive affect is associated with fewer hours of sleep (b = -0.648, p = .04) and greater morning tiredness (b = 0.67, p = .006) even after adjusting for mean levels of affect. Although greater negative affect variability is associated with worse sleep quality (b = -0.77, p = .02) and greater morning tiredness (b = 0.91, p = .004), these associations are no longer significant once mean negative affect is added into the model.

Findings support theory describing the downside in the variability of positive affect, and suggest that fluctuations in positive affect are related to poor sleep outcomes that have implications for overall health and well-being.