WEDNESDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- While changes in temperature affect sleep of young and old patients similarly, elderly patients may not perceive these temperature changes, which may contribute to sleep complaints, researchers report in the September issue of Sleep.
Roy J.E.M. Raymann, of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, and colleagues examined whether changes in core body and skin temperature initiate sleep complaints in the elderly and if elderly patients are able to detect subtle changes in body temperature. In a sleep laboratory, sleep studies with varying core and skin temperatures were performed on eight elderly patients without sleep complaints and on eight elderly insomniacs.
An increase in skin temperature by 0.4 degrees Celsius induced sleep onset by 18 percent in elderly patients without sleep complaints (1.84 minutes) and in elderly insomniacs by 28 percent (2.85 minutes), which is similar to results found in healthy young adults, the researchers report. However, elderly patients perception of the temperature changes significantly declined, especially for the elderly insomniacs.
"The findings show that mild changes in skin temperature have an effect on sleep propensity in elderly and indicate that elderly insomniacs may have a diminished capability to recognize that a slight increase in bed temperature facilitates the initiation or reinitiation of sleep," the authors write. "Although the present study demonstrates a proof of principle, it remains to be addressed in a larger sample whether core body temperature and skin-temperature manipulations will be of clinical relevance in real-life situations."
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