The findings suggest the possibility that sleepiness may affect an individual's inhibitory control when he or she is exposed to highly appetizing, high-calorie foods, according to Dr. Killgore.
Marital Discord
Although most sleep research focuses on the individual, the fact that sleep problems and relationship trouble often co-occur led Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and her colleagues to consider the dyadic nature of sleep in a recent study. The investigators examined the bidirectional links between nightly sleep and daily marital interactions among 35 healthy married couples (mean age, 32 years) by correlating the actigraph results for sleep latency, wakefulness after sleep onset, and total sleep time of each partner over 10 nights, with daily self-reported positive and negative marital interactions assessed via electronic diaries during the same period.
“We found stronger evidence linking sleep to the next day's marital interactions, rather than the reverse direction,” Dr. Troxel reported. Specifically, wives' prolonged sleep latency significantly predicted their own and their husbands' reports of more negative and less positive interactions the next day, even after adjustment for depressive symptoms, whereas the quality of marital interactions did not appear to predict sleep measures in women, she said. The sleep quality of husbands did not appear to affect their own or their wives' reports of next-day marital interactions; however, for men, a higher level of positive marital interactions predicted shorter total sleep duration the next night.
The findings suggest, perhaps, that “men are more likely to repress their feelings or not be as aware” of mood changes, whereas women are more likely to express their emotional concerns and to “drive the emotional climate of the relationship,” Dr. Troxel said. The results highlight the potential interpersonal consequences of sleep disorders, and as such may have important clinical implications, she said.
The presenters reported no financial conflicts of interest relevant to their respective presentations.
In our “24-hour society:” trading sleep for work is commonplace and is worn as a badge of honor.
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