Hot-water bathing before bedtime and shorter sleep onset latency are accompanied by a higher distal-proximal skin temperature gradient in older adults.

ABSTRACT:

Study objectives

Passive body heating in controlled settings could shorten sleep onset latency (SOL). The hypothesized mechanism is vasodilation-induced heat loss before bedtime. However, this evidence is based on small sample-sized studies in specific populations. Thus, we analyzed the association of hot-water bathing and its before-bedtime timing with SOL and heat loss in a large study population of older adults.

Methods

We conducted a longitudinal analysis using repeated measurements of hot-water bathing and sleep among 1,094 older adults (mean age, 72.0 years). SOL was recorded using actigraphy and self-reported sleep estimates and was categorized into conditions (intervals of 1-60, 61-120, 121-180, and > 181 minutes between hot bath and bedtime) and compared with the co

SUBMITTER: Tai Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8314650 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature