SLEEP DISTURBANCES IN A YOUNG-ADULT POPULATION - CAN GENDER DIFFERENCES BE EXPLAINED BY DIFFERENCES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS

To study the prevalence of reported sleep disturbances and the associa tion between these complaints and psychological status, 529 randomly s elected subjects aged 20-45 years were questioned about their sleep sy mptoms and psychological status by means of questionnaires. In this yo ung population, feeling refreshed in the morning almost every day was reported by only 15.3%. Females reported a significantly longer mean t otal sleep time (TST) than males (F: 425 +/- 58 minutes, M: 403 +/- 50 minutes; p < 0.01). Despite this, the difference compared with the re ported need of sleep was greater in females (56 +/- 62 minutes) than i n males (40 +/- 51 minutes) (p < 0.05). Difficulties maintaining sleep (DMS, greater than or equal to 3/week) (F: 20.1%, M: 10.4%; p < 0.01) , the absence of feeling refreshed in the morning (F: 36.2%, M: 26.8%; p < 0.05), and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) (F: 23.3%, M: 15.9% ; p < 0.05) were significantly more common among females. According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, females suffered from anxi ety more frequently than males (F: 32.8%, M: 18.9%; p < 0.001). An ass ociation was found between anxiety and many sleep disturbances. After making adjustments for age, smoking, snoring, gender and psychological status by means of multiple regression, the gender differences mentio ned above remained significant. We conclude that despite a longer TST, females report insufficient sleep, EDS, DMS, and the absence of feeli ng refreshed in the morning more frequently than males. The higher pre valence of anxiety among females alone cannot explain the gender diffe rences in sleep disturbances seen in this population.