Patterns of Association of Health Problems with Sleep- Wake Timing and Duration

Patterns of Association of Health Problems with Sleep- Wake Timing and Duration

Health problems show a linear relationship with preferred (earlylate) sleep timing and a U-shaped with habitual (short-long) sleep duration. The reasons for the dissimilarity between the patterns of association of health problems with sleep timing and duration remain unknown. Self-scorings of depression, anxiety, somatization, and general health status were compared in 2103 respondents typed in accord with preferred sleep timing, habitual sleep duration, and preferred (short-long) wake duration. The strongest linear associations with health self-scorings was showed by preferred wake duration, and, after accounting for it, none of the associations between health and preferred sleep timing remained statistically significant. It seems that a medical condition can lead to either short sleep durations or short wake duration, and that short wake duration can lead, in turn, to long sleep duration and late sleep timing.