The impact of sleep education, light intervention and relaxation on sleep and mood in the elderly

ABSTRACT

Sleep and light education (SLE) combined with relaxation is a potential method of addressing sleep and affective problems in older people. 47 participants took part in a four-week sleep education program. SLE was conducted once a week for 60–90 minutes. Participants were instructed on sleep and light hygiene, sleep processes, and practiced relaxation techniques. Participants were wearing actigraphs for 6 weeks, completed daily sleep diaries, and wore blue light-blocking glasses 120 minutes before bedtime. Measures included scores of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and actigraphy measurements of sleep latency, sleep efficiency, and sleep fragmentation. Sleep quality increased after SLE based on the subjective assessment and in the objective measurement with actigraphy. PSQI scores were statistically reduced indicating better sleep. Scores after the intervention significantly decreased in ESS and ISS. Sleep latency significantly decreased, whereas sleep efficiency and fragmentation index (%), did not improve. Mood significantly improved after SLE, with lower scores on the BDI-II and STAI. SLE combined with relaxation proved to be an effective method to reduce sleep problems and the incidence of depressive and anxiety symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep hygiene
• light hygiene
• education
• actigraph
• senior sleep

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants who participated in this research work and the clinical psychologist Mgr. Karolína Janků, Ph.D., who helped us with the educational content. This work was supported by a grant from Charles University Grant Agency, grant no. 355322 and program of Ministry of Health, Czech Republic – conceptual development of research organization (FNKV, 00064173).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2024.2337007.

Ethical statement

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the National Institute of Mental Health. Upon entry into the study, participants were informed of the purpose and duration of the study and the expectations of the study, and their written informed consents were obtained in accordance with the principle of voluntariness.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Charles University Grant Agency [grant no. 355322]; Ministerstvo Zdravotnictví Ceské Republiky [00064173]; Neuroscience COOPERATIO 38 [207038] from Charles University, Development of research organizations from the Ministry of Health [Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital, 00064173].