Sleep-wake patterns among postmenopausal women: A 24-hour unattended polysomnographic study

Background. Circadian sleep-wake profiles in postmenopausal women were exam ined to explore relationships between nocturnal and out-of-bed sleep. Methods. Twenty-one home recordings were obtained with unattended polysomno graphy from women ranging from 56 to 77 years of age. Results. While maintaining their daily routines, volunteers slept an averag e of 439 minutes throughout the W-hour recordings. Ten percent of the accum ulated sleep rime was recorded out of bed. Conclusions. Greater age was associated with more afternoon-evening sleep. Sleep was also frequently observed shortly after volunteers arose from bed in the morning.