Sleep difficulties, pain and other correlates.

A multiple regression analysis was used with variables relevant to sleeping problems from a large community health survey in South Australia. The variables that were found to be most strongly correlated with sleep problems were, in order of importance, pain, anxiety, age, somatic health and annual household income, all of which accounted for 22% of the variance. Weight problems, depression and sex of the respondent were not so important in this analysis. Arthritis, which often increases with age, appeared to be most strongly associated with pain, explaining in part why sleeping problems increase with age. Anxiety, pain and poor somatic health were most strongly associated with lying awake at night or sleeping badly, and anxiety and pain were most strongly correlated with taking longer to get to sleep. Poor somatic health and anxiety were most strongly associated with waking early, and age and pain were the most important variables in taking tablets to aid sleep.

Isocaloric diet changes and electroencephalographic sleep.

Electroencephalographic (E.E.G.) sleep changes were studied in eight young healthy male subjects who were given a normal balanced diet or a high-carbohydrate/low-fat or low-carbohydrate/high-fat isocaloric diet, according to an experimental design. Significantly less slow-wave sleep (S.W.S.) was found after consuming a high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet than after consuming a normal balanced diet or a low-carbohydrate/high-fat diet. The latter two diets did not differ in terms of the amounts of S.W.S. Both high-carbohydrate/low-fat and low-carbohydrate/high-fat isocaloric diets, especially the former, were associated with significantly more rapid-eye-movement (R.E.M.) sleep than was the normal balanced diet. These findings emphasise the importance of daily diet for the following night's sleep.