Bed Rest, Sleep, and Symptoms

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The bed rest and sleep habits, and the non-specific symptomatology, were studied in a relatively unselected group of alert and active older persons. Habitual daily sleep was found to vary from less than 4 hours to almost 12 hours. There was no evidence of a progressive decrease in sleep with advancing age. Discomfort from unexplained symptoms, particularly tension and fatigue, was moderate to severe in the majority of those persons who slept less than 7 hours, while similar discomfort was mild or absent in the majority of those who slept 8 hours or more. It was further observed that those persons who rested in bed during the day in addition to sleeping more than 8 hours at night were relatively asymptomatic. Some of those who habitually slept less than 7 hours were placed on a regimen of increased bed rest that included a day time rest period. All of those who had not complained of insomnia experienced a more or less abrupt increase in sleep to 8 hours or more at night. This was followed by a decrease in symptoms in each case. Those patients who complained of insomnia had a lesser increase in sleep and less symptomatic relief.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: