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© 1998 Oxford University Press

other

The effects of age upon some aspects of lifestyle and implications for studies on circadian rhythmicity

DAVID MINORS1, GREG ATKINSON2, NUALA BENT3, PATRICK RABBITT3 and JAMES WATERHOUSE1,2

1School of Biological Sciences G38 Stopford Building University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PT, UK
2School of Human Sciences, Liverpool John Moore's University Liverpool, UK
3Age Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Manchester Manchester, UK

D. S. Minors. Fax (+44) 161 275 5600. Email: David.Minors{at}man.ac.uk

Background: most studies on lifestyle changes in old age have been transverse. We have conducted a longitudinal study.

Subjects: 112 non-institutionalized subjects were studied in 1984 and again 10 years later (ages in 1984 ranged from 53–82 years).

Protocol: on each occasion subjects recorded in a diary their times of retiring and rising and of taking meals, during a ‘typical week’. They also recorded whether they lived alone or with somebody.

Analysis: the diaries were scored to establish any effects of age or living alone on the timing and variability of their lifestyle.

Results: age was associated with changes in the sleep/wake schedule and mealtimes and a decrease of daily variation in these variables. When these changes were compared in subjects living alone and with somebody, the increase in time spent in bed and the decreases in variability of times of rising and meals were more marked in subjects living with somebody.

Conclusions: a deteriorating body clock contributes to some of these changes, but an increasingly inflexible lifestyle will offset some of the effects of this decline in circadian rhythmicity.

Keywords: aged subjects, circadian rhythms, lifestyle, longitudinal study, sleep

Received January 24, 1997;
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