Ten-Year Stability of an Insomnia Sleeper Phenotype and Its Association With Chronic Conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To identify distinct sleep health phenotypes in adults, examine transitions in sleep health phenotypes over time, and subsequently relate these to the risk of chronic conditions. METHODS: A national sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States study ( N = 3683) provided longitudinal data with two time points (T1: 2004-2006, T2: 2013-2017). Participants self-reported on sleep health (regularity, satisfaction, alertness, efficiency, duration) and the number and type of chronic conditions. Covariates included age, sex, race, education, education, partnered status, number of children, work status, smoking, alcohol, and physical activity. RESULTS: Latent transition analysis identified four sleep health phenotypes across both time points: good sleepers, insomnia sleepers, weekend catch-up sleepers, and nappers. Between T1 and T2, the majority (77%) maintained their phenotype, with the nappers and insomnia sleepers being the most stable. In fully adjusted models with good sleepers at both time points as the reference, being an insomnia sleeper at either time point was related to having an increased number of total chronic conditions by 28%-81% at T2, adjusting for T1 conditions. Insomnia sleepers at both time points were at 72%-188% higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and frailty. Being a napper at any time point related to increased risks for diabetes, cancer, and frailty. Being a weekend catch-up sleeper was not associated with chronic conditions. Those with lower education and unemployed were more likely to be insomnia sleepers; older adults and retirees were more likely to be nappers. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate a heightened risk of chronic conditions involved in suboptimal sleep health phenotypes, mainly insomnia sleepers.

Reduced coupling between cerebrospinal fluid flow and global brain activity is linked to Alzheimer disease-related pathology.

The glymphatic system plays an important role in clearing the amyloid-ß (Aß) and tau proteins that are closely linked to Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology. Glymphatic clearance, as well as Aß accumulation, is highly dependent on sleep, but the sleep-dependent driving forces behind cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) movements essential to the glymphatic flux remain largely unclear. Recent studies have reported that widespread, high-amplitude spontaneous brain activations in the drowsy state and during sleep, which are shown as large global signal peaks in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), are coupled with CSF movements, suggesting their potential link to glymphatic flux and metabolite clearance. By analyzing multimodal data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) project, here we showed that the coupling between the global fMRI signal and CSF influx is correlated with AD-related pathology, including various risk factors for AD, the severity of AD-related diseases, the cortical Aß level, and cognitive decline over a 2-year follow-up. These results provide critical initial evidence for involvement of sleep-dependent global brain activity, as well as the associated physiological modulations, in the clearance of AD-related brain waste.

Associations between AHA's Life's Essential 8 and cognition in midlife and older adults.

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the associations between Life's Essential 8 (LE8) and cognitive performance, and compared the strength of the relationships of Life's Simple 7 (LS7) and LE8 to cognition in midlife and older adults. METHODS: Participants (N = 1539) were from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study. Cross-sectional multivariable regression examined the associations between LE8 and cognition. Secondary analyses compared model performance between LE8 and LS7 measures on cognition from the same available sample. RESULTS: Higher LE8 scores were associated with better global cognitive performance, working memory, and attention. The LS7 model outperformed the LE8 model on global cognitive performance, but the LE8 model outperformed the LS7 model for the working memory domain. DISCUSSION: Better cardiovascular health (CVH) was associated with better cognitive performance among US middle-aged and older adults. However, the association between CVH and specific cognitive domains varies when using LE8 versus LS7. HIGHLIGHTS: Cardiovascular health (CVH) is associated with cognitive performance. Life's Essential 8 (LE8) is a new construct to quantify CVH. Associations between LE8 and cognition were assessed. Higher LE8 was associated with better global cognitive performance. Higher LE8 was also associated with better working memory and attention.

Recovery Sleep After Sleep Restriction Is Insufficient to Return Elevated Daytime Heart Rate and Systolic Blood Pressure to Baseline Levels.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep restriction alters daytime cardiac activity, including elevating heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). There is minimal research on the cumulative effects of sleep loss and the response after subsequent recovery sleep on HR and BP. This study examined patterns of HR and BP across baseline, sleep restriction, and recovery conditions using multiple daytime cardiac measurements. METHODS: Participants (15 healthy men, mean [standard deviation] = 22.3 [2.8] years) completed an 11-day inpatient protocol with three nights of 10 hours/night baseline sleep opportunity, five sleep restriction nights (5-hour/night sleep opportunity), and two recovery nights (10-hour/night sleep opportunity). Resting HR and BP were measured every 2 hours during wake. Multilevel models with random effects for individuals examined daytime HR and BP across study conditions and days into the study. RESULTS: Mean daytime HR was 1.2 (0.5) beats/min lower during sleep restriction compared with baseline ( p < .001). During recovery, HR was 5.5 (1.0) beats/min higher ( p < .001), and systolic BP (SBP) was 2.9 (1.1) mm Hg higher ( p = .009). When accounting for days into the study (irrespective of condition) and measurement timing across the day, HR increased by 7.6 beats/min and SBP increased by 3.4 mm Hg across the study period ( p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that daytime HR and SBP increase after successive nights of sleep restriction, even after accounting for measurement time of day. HR and SBP did not recover to baseline levels after two recovery nights of sleep, suggesting that longer recovery sleep may be necessary to recover from multiple, consecutive nights of moderate sleep restriction.

Employee Cardiometabolic Risk Following a Cluster-Randomized Workplace Intervention From the Work, Family and Health Network, 2009-2013.

Objectives. To examine whether workplace interventions to increase workplace flexibility and supervisor support and decrease work-family conflict can reduce cardiometabolic risk. Methods. We randomly assigned employees from information technology (n = 555) and long-term care (n = 973) industries in the United States to the Work, Family and Health Network intervention or usual practice (we collected the data 2009-2013). We calculated a validated cardiometabolic risk score (CRS) based on resting blood pressure, HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin), HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and total cholesterol, height and weight (body mass index), and tobacco consumption. We compared changes in baseline CRS to 12-month follow-up. Results. There was no significant main effect on CRS associated with the intervention in either industry. However, significant interaction effects revealed that the intervention improved CRS at the 12-month follow-up among intervention participants in both industries with a higher baseline CRS. Age also moderated intervention effects: older employees had significantly larger reductions in CRS at 12 months than did younger employees. Conclusions. The intervention benefited employee health by reducing CRS equivalent to 5 to 10 years of age-related changes for those with a higher baseline CRS and for older employees. Trial Registration. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02050204. (Am J Public Health. 2023;113(12):1322-1331. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307413).

Secondary analysis of a randomized trial testing community health educator interventions for diabetes prevention among refugees with depression: effects on nutrition, physical activity and sleep.

BACKGROUND: Refugees have high levels of psychological distress that hamper lifestyle change efforts. We previously reported that community health educator (CHE) diabetes prevention interventions decreased HbA1c and depressive symptoms among Cambodian-American refugees with depression; this paper reports health behavior outcomes of those interventions. METHODS: Participants were aged 35-75, Khmer speaking, at risk for diabetes, and met study criteria for likely depression by either a) antidepressant medication and/or b) prolonged elevated depressive symptoms. Participants were randomized to one of three CHE interventions: 1) lifestyle intervention called Eat, Walk, Sleep (EWS), 2) EWS plus medication therapy management with a pharmacist/CHE team (EWS + MTM), or, 3) social services (SS; control). Physical activity and sleep were measured with 7 days of actigraphy. Nutrition was measured as carbohydrates as reported in a culturally tailored food frequency questionnaire. Assessments were at baseline, end point (12 months), and follow-up (15 months). RESULTS: The n = 188 participants were 78% female, average age of 55 years, half had a household income < $20,000, and modal education was 7.0 years. Individuals in the two treatment groups that received the EWS intervention significantly increased their brown rice consumption (p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.76) and their moderate-to-vigorous activity (p = .039, d = 0.32). No intervention changed sleep duration, timing, efficiency or wake after sleep onset. Across groups, individuals who increased brown rice consumption, increased vigorous activity and decreased total sleep time variability showed decreased HbA1c, with small effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: CHEs may improve nutrition and physical activity in refugees with depression but more intensive interventions may be required to impact sleep. Improvements in all three behaviors appear to be associated with HbA1c lowering TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02502929.

Association of Birthplace for Sleep Duration, Sleep Quality, and Sleep Disorder Symptoms, at the US-Mexico Border.

OBJECTIVES: The present study investigated the roles birthplace and acculturation play in sleep estimates among Hispanic/Latino population at the US-Mexico border. MEASURES: Data were collected in 2016, from N = 100 adults of Mexican descent from the city of Nogales, AZ, at the US-Mexico border. Sleep was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index categorized as none, mild, moderate, and severe, and Multivariable Apnea Prediction Index (MAP) categorized as never, infrequently, and frequently. Acculturation was measured with the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans II (ARSMA-II). RESULTS: The sample consisted of majority Mexican-born (66%, vs. born in the USA 38.2%). Being born in the USA was associated with 55 fewer minutes of nighttime sleep (p = .011), and 1.65 greater PSQI score (p = .031). Compared to no symptoms, being born in the USA was associated with greater likelihood of severe difficulty falling asleep (OR = 8.3, p = .030) and severe difficulty staying asleep (OR = 11.2, p = .050), as well as decreased likelihood of breathing pauses during sleep (OR = 0.18, P = .020). These relationships remained significant after Mexican acculturation was entered in these models. However, greater Anglo acculturation appears to mediate one fewer hour of sleep per night, poorer sleep quality, and reporting of severe difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals of Mexican descent, being born in the USA (vs Mexico) is associated with about 1 hour less sleep per night, worse sleep quality, more insomnia symptoms, and less mild sleep apnea symptoms. These relationships are influenced by acculturation, primarily the degree of Anglo rather than the degree of Mexican acculturation.

Why so slangry (sleepy and angry)? Shorter sleep duration and lower sleep efficiency predict worse next-day mood in adolescents.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationships of actigraphic nighttime sleep duration and quality with next-day mood among urban adolescents using a micro-longitudinal design. METHODS: A subsample (N = 525) of participants from the Fragile Families & Child Wellbeing Study (mean age: 15.4 years; 53% female; 42% Black non-Hispanic, 24% Hispanic/Latino, 19% White non-Hispanic) in the United States between 2014 and 2016 concurrently wore a wrist actigraphic sleep monitor and rated their daily mood in electronic diaries for about 1 week. Multilevel models tested the within-person temporal associations of nightly sleep duration and sleep maintenance efficiency with next-day reports of happiness, anger, and loneliness. The models also tested the between-person associations of sleep variables and mood. Models adjusted for sociodemographic and household characteristics, weekend, and school year. RESULTS: After nights when adolescents obtained longer sleep duration than their usual, they reported lower ratings of anger (B = -.03, p < .01) the next day. After nights when adolescents had higher sleep maintenance efficiency than their usual, they reported higher ratings of happiness (B = .02, p < .01) the next day. Adolescents who had longer average sleep duration reported lower ratings of anger (B = -.08, p < .01) and loneliness (B = -.08, p < .01) compared to others. There was no within-person association of sleep duration or efficiency with loneliness. Sleep duration was not associated with happiness between adolescents, and sleep maintenance efficiency was not associated with any mood measure between adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements to nightly sleep may help increase happiness and decrease anger the following day in adolescents. Promoting sleep health is recommended to improve mood.

The Social Context of Partnered Older Adults' Insomnia Symptoms.

The current study included an examination of social factors that mitigate or exacerbate insomnia symptoms among older adults who are married or living with a partner. We first examined the unique effects of spousal support and strain on insomnia symptoms and then evaluated the degree to which extramarital social factors (e.g., friend support) moderated spousal influences. Data came from Waves 2 and 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Our sample consisted of 495 participants who were either married or cohabitating with a partner (M age in years = 69.84, SD = 8.08). Spousal strain-but not support-predicted higher insomnia symptoms 5 years later. Spousal influences on sleep, however, were moderated by extramarital factors in nuanced ways. Findings highlight the importance of taking into account older adults' wider social context when examining the ways in which sleep is sensitive to positive and negative aspects of marital quality.

An orderly sequence of autonomic and neural events at transient arousal changes.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) allows the study of functional brain connectivity based on spatially structured variations in neuronal activity. Proper evaluation of connectivity requires removal of non-neural contributions to the fMRI signal, in particular hemodynamic changes associated with autonomic variability. Regression analysis based on autonomic indicator signals has been used for this purpose, but may be inadequate if neuronal and autonomic activities covary. To investigate this potential co-variation, we performed rsfMRI experiments while concurrently acquiring electroencephalography (EEG) and autonomic indicator signals, including heart rate, respiratory depth, and peripheral vascular tone. We identified a recurrent and systematic spatiotemporal pattern of fMRI (named as fMRI cascade), which features brief signal reductions in salience and default-mode networks and the thalamus, followed by a biphasic global change with a sensory-motor dominance. This fMRI cascade, which was mostly observed during eyes-closed condition, was accompanied by large EEG and autonomic changes indicative of arousal modulations. Importantly, the removal of the fMRI cascade dynamics from rsfMRI diminished its correlations with various signals. These results suggest that the rsfMRI correlations with various physiological and neural signals are not independent but arise, at least partly, from the fMRI cascades and associated neural and physiological changes at arousal modulations.

Worse sleep health predicts less frequent breakfast consumption among adolescents in a micro-longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND: Poor self-reported sleep health has been linked to not consuming breakfast in adolescents, but it is unknown whether poor sleep measured objectively predicts next-day breakfast consumption within adolescents. We investigated within- and between-person associations of objectively measured sleep dimensions and subjective sleep quality with adolescent breakfast consumption. METHODS: Data were collected from a micro-longitudinal substudy of the Year 15 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 590). Adolescents wore an actigraphy device and completed daily diaries for ~ 1 week (M ± SD = 5.6 ± 1.4 nights per adolescent, range: 3-9), where they rated their sleep quality and reported whether they had eaten breakfast that day, with no specific definition of breakfast provided (M ± SD = 5.5 ± 1.4 days per adolescent, range: 3-9). Separate mixed models assessed whether actigraphy-measured sleep duration (linear and quadratic, sleep duration x sleep duration), timing, maintenance efficiency, and subjective quality predicted odds of breakfast consumption both within and between adolescents. Variability of sleep duration and timing (standard deviation per person), sleep regularity index (SRI), and social jetlag were tested as additional between-person predictors. Analyses with predictors other than sleep duration were adjusted for sleep duration. RESULTS: Following nights when adolescents had shorter or longer sleep duration (p = .005; curvilinear association), later sleep onset, or later sleep midpoint (both p = .025) than their own usual, they had lower odds of consuming breakfast the next day (within-person associations). Adolescents who on average had later sleep onset (p = .013) or midpoint (p = .013) or who reported lower sleep quality (p = .011) had lower average odds of consuming breakfast (between-person associations). Adolescents with greater variability of sleep duration (p = .005), midpoint (p = .004), or offset (p < .001) had lower average odds of consuming breakfast (between-person associations). Sleep maintenance efficiency (within or between adolescents), SRI, and social jetlag were not associated with breakfast consumption (all p > .10). CONCLUSIONS: Multiple dimensions of sleep health are associated with breakfast consumption, both within and between adolescents. Poor sleep and dietary behaviors in adolescence may negatively impact future metabolic health.

Neighborhood Disadvantage Is Associated with Lower Quality Sleep and More Variability in Sleep Duration among Urban Adolescents.

Differential social and contextual environments may contribute to adolescent sleep disparities, yet most prior studies are limited to self-reported sleep data and have not been conducted at a national level, limiting the variation in neighborhood contexts. This study examined the association between neighborhood disadvantage and objective measures of adolescent sleep. A racially and geographically diverse sample of American adolescents (N = 682) wore wrist-worn accelerometers, "actigraphs," for ≥ 5 nights. Neighborhood disadvantage was calculated using a standardized index of neighborhood characteristics (proportion of female-headed households, public assistance recipients, households in poverty, adults without high school degrees, and unemployed). Adolescents in more disadvantaged neighborhoods spent more time awake after falling asleep (4.0 min/night, p < .05), a greater percentage of nighttime sleep intervals awake (1%, p < .01), and had less consistent sleep duration (11.6% higher standard deviation, p < .05). Sleep duration and timing did not differ across neighborhood groups. These findings demonstrate that adolescents who live in more disadvantaged neighborhoods have lower quality, less consistent sleep.

Relationships between daily stress responses in everyday life and nightly sleep.

Stress and sleep are related, but the nature and time course of this relation is not well understood. We explored the within-person associations of three components of emotional responses to everyday stressors, indexed by negative affect, reactivity (initial response to a stressor), recovery (persistence of the post-stressor response), and pile-up (accumulation of stress episodes), with sleep indicators. We conducted coordinated analyses of data in several studies employing ecological momentary assessments, which captured naturally occurring, self-reported stress and sleep. We defined proximal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to an immediate pre-stressor state, and distal reactivity as the emotional response to the stressor moment in question compared to a typical stressor-free state for that person. Results in two of three studies showed that people reported significantly lower sleep quality following days on which they experienced higher levels of distal reactivity to stressors. Days with greater distal reactivity also predicted significantly more difficulty falling asleep in one of two studies. There was no clear association between proximal reactivity and subsequent sleep. Associations of recovery or pile-up with subsequent sleep emerged only in single studies. Poorer sleep quality was significantly related to higher next day levels of negative affect in all three studies, but there were no consistent relations between sleep and next day stress reactivity, recovery, or pile-up. These exploratory analyses suggest that distal reactivity is associated with a heightened risk of experiencing poor sleep quality the following night, and as such the former may serve as a candidate for potential targets for the remediation of the negative effects of stress on sleep.

Patterns of Eating Associated with Sleep Characteristics: A Pilot Study among Individuals of Mexican Descent at the US-Mexico Border.

Introduction: Previous studies have linked sleep to risk of diabetes and obesity, at least partially via alterations in food intake. Diabetes and obesity are common among Hispanics/Latinos, and studies are needed to better clarify the role of sleep in health among this group. Utilizing the revised TFEQ-R-18, this study will examine whether eating behaviors such as cognitive restraint, emotional eating and uncontrolled eating are related to self-reported sleep experiences. Specifically, we hypothesized that poor eating habits would be associated with (1) more insomnia symptoms, (2) overall worse sleep quality, (3) increased daytime sleepiness, and (4) shorter sleep duration.Methods: Data were collected from N = 100 adults (age 18-60, 47% female) of Mexican descent in the city of Nogales, AZ (34% not born in the US). Surveys were presented in English or Spanish. Eating Patterns were assessed with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), which resulted in a total score and subscales for "cognitive restraint," "uncontrolled eating," and "emotional eating." Insomnia was assessed with the use of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Sleepiness with the use of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Sleep quality with the use of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and weekday and weekend sleep duration with the use of the Sleep Timing Questionnaire (STQ). Covariates included age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), education and immigrant status.Results: Overall TFEQ score (problematic eating) was positively associated with greater insomnia, poorer sleep quality, more sleepiness, and less weekend (but not weekday) sleep. Mean TFEQ score in the sample was 18.7 (range 0-51). In adjusted analyses, every point on the TFEQ was associated with 0.6 ISI points, 0.8 PSQI points, 0.5 ESS points, and 1.1 minutes of less weekend sleep duration. Regarding subscale scores, relationships were generally seenbetween sleep and emotional eating and unrestricted eating, and not cognitive restraint.Conclusions: Greater insomnia, poorer sleep quality, increased daytime sleepiness and decreased weekend sleep duration were associated with eating patterns at the US-Mexico border, particularly in the area of unrestricted eating and emotional eating. This suggests possible mechanisms linking sleep and obesity in Hispanic/Latinos.

Pharmacists and community health workers improve medication-related process outcomes among Cambodian Americans with depression and risk for diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Cambodian Americans have high rates of cardiometabolic and psychiatric disorders and disadvantaged social determinants of health (SDOH). These factors can make it challenging to resolve drug therapy problems (DTPs) and improve medication-related outcomes. This manuscript reports planned analyses from a randomized controlled trial in which participants were randomized to one of 3 treatment arms: (1) community health worker (CHW)-delivered lifestyle intervention called Eat, Walk, sleep (EWS), (2) EWS plus pharmacist/CHW-delivered medication therapy management (EWS + MTM), or (3) social services (SS: control). OBJECTIVES: We compared the 3 arms on changes in self-reported medication adherence, barriers, and beliefs. Within the EWS + MTM arm only, we assessed the impact of EWS + MTM on DTP resolution and examined predictors of DTP resolution. METHODS: Cambodian Americans at the age of 35-75 years at high risk of developing diabetes and meeting the criteria for likely depression (N = 188) were randomized (EWS, n = 67; EWS + MTM, n = 63; SS, n = 50; control). For all participants, self-reported surveys were collected at baseline, 12 months, and 15 months. DTPs were assessed on the same schedule but only for participants in the EWS + MTM. RESULTS: All 3 groups reported a significant decrease in barriers to taking medications. Compared with the other arms, the EWS + MTM arm reported a decrease in forgetting to take medications at 15 months. In the EWS + MTM arm, mean DTPs per patient was 6.57 and 84% of DTPs were resolved. SDOH predictors of DTP resolution included years of education (odds ratio [OR] 0.94, P = 0.016), ability to write English (OR 0.73, P = 0.015), difficulty communicating with provider (OR 1.39, P < 0.001), private insurance (OR 1.99, P = 0.030), disability (OR 0.51, P = 0.008), and years living under Pol Pot (OR 0.66, P = 0.045). Medication barriers at baseline predicted DTP resolution (OR 0.79, P = 0.019) such that each additional barrier was associated with a 21% reduction (1-0.79) in the odds of having a resolution. CONCLUSION: CHWs can reduce medications barriers and help pharmacists reduce DTPs in disadvantaged populations.

Emotional Vulnerability to Short Sleep Predicts Increases in Chronic Health Conditions Across 8 Years.

BACKGROUND: Sleep is a robust determinant of next-day emotions, but people vary in the extent that their emotions fluctuate on days following short sleep duration. These individual differences in day-to-day sleep and emotion dynamics may have long-term health implications. PURPOSE: To evaluate emotional vulnerability to short sleep (within-person associations between sleep duration and next-day emotions) as a risk factor for future chronic conditions. METHODS: Adults aged 33-84 (N = 1,426; 57% female) in the Midlife in the United States Study reported sleep duration and emotions by telephone for eight consecutive days. Chronic conditions were assessed via checklist at baseline and at a median follow-up of eight years (range: 5-10 years). Short sleep was examined in three ways: person-centered continuous variable, ≤6 hr, and <7 hr; long sleep was defined as ≥9 hr. RESULTS: Multilevel structural equation models revealed that people with greater negative emotions following nights of sleep ≤6 hr (vs. their negative emotions after longer sleep) had increased chronic conditions at follow-up, compared to people who were less emotionally vulnerable to short sleep (Est. = 1.04, SE = .51, p < .028). Smaller declines in positive emotions following ≤6 hr of sleep were marginally predictive of lower risk for chronic conditions (Est. = -.77, SE = .44, p = .054). Emotional vulnerability to <7, ≥9, and continuous sleep hours were not associated with subsequent chronic conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional vulnerability to short sleep is a unique risk factor for the development of chronic conditions, independent of mean-level sleep duration and emotions.

Various Types of Perceived Job Discrimination and Sleep Health Among Working Women: Findings From the Sister Study.

Job discrimination, a social stressor, may lead to sleep health disparities among workers; yet, limited research has examined this relationship and specific sources of job discrimination. We used a US sample of working women (n = 26,085), participants in the Sister Study (2008-2016), to examine the associations of perceived job discrimination due to sex, race, age, health conditions, and/or sexual orientation with sleep health. Cross-sectionally, linear or logistic regression models revealed that each source of job discrimination was independently associated with different sleep problems after controlling for other sources of job discrimination. Longitudinally, among participants without short sleep (<7 hours/night) at time 1 (2012-2014), age-specific job discrimination was associated with 21% increased odds of new-onset short sleep (odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.43) at time 2 (2014-2016). Among those without insomnia symptoms at time 1, race-specific job discrimination was associated with 37% increased odds of new-onset insomnia symptoms (odds ratio = 1.37, 95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.75) at time 2. Sex- and health-specific job discrimination also predicted new-onset sleepiness. There were dose-response relationships such that a greater number of sources of job discrimination (≥3) was associated with greater odds of prevalent and incident sleep problems. Perceived job discrimination may contribute to working women's poor sleep health over time, raising concerns about sleep health disparities emanating from the workplace.

Stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep and its association with body mass index in middle-aged workers.

There is evidence that insufficient sleep and more stressors are individually associated with poor metabolic health outcomes. Examining sleep and stressors jointly may account for greater variability in health outcomes; however, we know little about the combined effect of both insufficient sleep and more stressors on metabolic health. This study examined whether experiencing more stressors in response to insufficient sleep ("stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep") was associated with body mass index in middle-aged workers. One-hundred and twenty-seven participants (Mage  = 45.24 ± 6.22 years) reported nightly sleep characteristics and daily stressors on 8 consecutive days. We collected height and weight measurements to calculate body mass index (kg m-2 ). On average, workers reported more stressors following nights with shorter-than-usual sleep duration or poorer-than-usual sleep quality (negative slope means higher stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep). When examining stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep with insufficient sleep represented by shorter-than-usual sleep duration, compared with those with average stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep (within ±½ SD; reference), workers with high stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep (≤-½ SD) had higher body mass index (B = 3.24, p < .05). The body mass index of these workers fell in the obese range. There was no difference in body mass index between workers with low stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep (≥+½ SD) and the reference group. When examining stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep with insufficient sleep represented by poorer-than-usual sleep quality, stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep was not significantly associated with body mass index. Results suggest that middle-aged workers with higher stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep duration may be at greater risk for obesity. Results may inform future studies on interventions for improving sleep and reducing stress in middle-aged workers.

Adiposity, Depression Symptoms and Inflammation in Hispanic/Latino Youth: Results From HCHS/SOL Youth.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is implicated as one of many factors related to the development of chronic disease; thus, identifying its modifiable risk factors offers potential intervention targets to reduce risk. PURPOSE: To investigate whether depression and anxiety symptoms may indirectly affect high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) through sleep duration and adiposity (i.e., percentage body fat and waist circumference). METHODS: Multiple regression analyses were performed on Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Youth (ages 8-16 years) cross-sectional baseline data, which were weighted to adjust for sampling design. Data were collected at a clinical assessment, including fasting blood samples, self-report surveys, and objectively measured anthropometrics. RESULTS: Adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, depression symptoms were associated with log hs-CRP (ß = .011, p = .047) but not PAI-1 (p = .285). Percentage body fat and waist circumference were positively related to depression symptoms (p = .026 and p = .028, respectively) and log hs-CRP (p < .001 for both). When including adiposity in the hs-CRP model, the associations of depression symptoms with hs-CRP were attenuated and became nonsignificant. Monte Carlo confidence intervals (CIs) showed that the indirect effects from depression symptoms to CRP through percentage body fat (95% CI: .0006, .0119) and waist circumference (95% CI: .0004, .0109) were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that the association between psychological distress and inflammation may occur indirectly through adiposity in Hispanic/Latino children. If findings are replicated in causal designs, reducing depression symptoms and adiposity among Hispanic/Latino children may be avenues for primary prevention of inflammation in later years.

Four nights of sleep restriction suppress the postprandial lipemic response and decrease satiety.

Chronic sleep restriction, or inadequate sleep, is associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic disease. Laboratory studies demonstrate that sleep restriction causes impaired whole-body insulin sensitivity and glucose disposal. Evidence suggests that inadequate sleep also impairs adipose tissue insulin sensitivity and the NEFA rebound during intravenous glucose tolerance tests, yet no studies have examined the effects of sleep restriction on high-fat meal lipemia. We assessed the effect of 5 h time in bed (TIB) per night for four consecutive nights on postprandial lipemia following a standardized high-fat dinner (HFD). Furthermore, we assessed whether one night of recovery sleep (10 h TIB) was sufficient to restore postprandial metabolism to baseline. We found that postprandial triglyceride (TG) area under the curve was suppressed by sleep restriction (P = 0.01), but returned to baseline values following one night of recovery. Sleep restriction decreased NEFAs throughout the HFD (P = 0.02) and NEFAs remained suppressed in the recovery condition (P = 0.04). Sleep restriction also decreased participant-reported fullness or satiety (P = 0.03), and decreased postprandial interleukin-6 (P < 0.01). Our findings indicate that four nights of 5 h TIB per night impair postprandial lipemia and that one night of recovery sleep may be adequate for recovery of TG metabolism, but not for markers of adipocyte function.