Sleep and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome, Hypertension, Diabetes and Obesity Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Older adults often face a variety of health problems that are found less frequently in younger populations. Metabolic syndrome and other related diseases are common due to a variety of age and lifestyle factors. Sleep, often operationalized only as duration, quality, or apnea diagnosis, is associated with worse health outcomes across the lifespan. However, sleep is multi-faceted and may require a collection of measures in order to reflect this. This study examined a suite of self-reported sleep habits (risk for sleep apnea, night time duration, nap duration, quality, timing, and consistency of duration and timing) and physiological data in a sample of 144 older adults. Sleep-related variables as a group predicted risk for metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and diabetes but was not a clear predictor of obesity. Of the individual measures, risk for apnea and consistency of sleep duration throughout the week predicted risk for metabolic syndrome (apnea b = .64, p < .05; duration inconsistencies b = .22, p < .05). The findings of the study suggest that greater consistency in sleep schedules may benefit the health of older adult populations' risk for these disorders.