Non-Right Handedness is Associated with More Time Awake After Sleep Onset and Higher Daytime Sleepiness Than Right Handedness: Objective (Actigraphic) and Subjective Data from a Large Community Sample

Figures & data

Figure 1 Flowchart illustrating the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; EHI, Edinburgh Handedness Scale; TST, total sleep time; PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; ESS, Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

Table 1 Handedness, Objective and Subjective Sleep Parameters, Daytime Sleepiness and Chronotype Across the Cohort Separated by Sex

	Female N=908		Male N=856
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	t	p
EHI-Score	82.48	40.60	82.32	38.21	−1.889^Z	0.059
Absolute EHI score	90.09	18.30	88.59	19.70	−2.037^Z	0.042
Objective (actigraphy)
TIB (h)	7.59	0.93	7.42	0.93	−3.770	<0.001
TST (h)	6.40	0.92	6.11	0.91	−6.610	<0.001
SE (%)	84.43	6.89	82.57	8.05	−5.209	<0.001
SOL (min)	9.91	8.16	9.41	6.73	−1.415	0.157
Nwake	2.71	1.34	2.91	1.51	2.949	0.003
WASO (h)	1.00	0.59	1.09	0.67	2.890	0.004
Subjective (questionnaires)
TIBPSQI (h)	8.08	1.06	7.97	1.10	−2.103	0.036
SDPSQI (h)	6.76	1.15	6.92	1.06	2.873	0.004
SEPSQI (%)	84.39	13.54	87.47	12.06	5.061	<0.001
SOLPSQI (min)	22.26	23.67	16.54	17.71	−5.761	<0.001
PSQI score	5.40	3.21	4.39	2.54	−7.318	<0.001
ESS score	7.44	3.48	8.27	3.30	5.182	<0.001
D-MEQ score	59.42	8.53	59.72	8.31	0.724	0.469

Notes: Time in decimal values. ^ZZ-Values, Mann–Whitney-U-Test was used. Significant differences are shown in bold.

Abbreviations: TIB, time in bed; TST, total sleep time; SE, sleep efficiency (TST/IB); SOL, sleep onset latency; Nwake, number of awake periods of more than 5 min during night sleep; WASO, time spent awake after sleep onset. Subjective questionnaire-based sleep parameters; TIB, time in bed; SD, sleep duration; SE, sleep efficiency (SD/TIB); SOL, sleep onset latency; EHI, Edinburgh Handedness Scale; PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; ESS, Epworth Sleepiness Scale; D-MEQ, Morningness-Eveningness-Questionnaire (chronotype).

Figure 2 Frequency of the Edinburgh Handedness Scale (EHI)-Score in female and male participants.

Notes: EHI-Score 100 = consistently right-handed. EHI-Score −100 = consistently left-handed.

Table 2 Spearman’s Rank Correlation of Direction of Handedness (Mean EHI) and Degree of Handedness (Absolute EHI) with Objective Sleep Parameters Separated by Sex and Age Group

	Total Sample	Female	Male	Female Age 18–45	Female Age ≥ 55	Male Age 18–45	Male Age ≥ 55
N	1764	908	856	190	511	137	519
Mean EHI-Score
TIB	0.022	0.004	0.034	−0.099	0.087*	0.049	0.014
TST	0.028	0.026	0.021	−0.031	0.096*	−0.029	0.027
SE	0.033	0.053	0.007	0.090	0.065	−0.039	0.017
SOL	0.021	0.005	0.041	0.025	0.007	0.141	0.081
Nwake	−0.025	−0.052	0.007	−0.079	−0.051	0.016	−0.024
WASO	−0.049*	−0.087**	−0.008	−0.101	−0.101*	0.041	−0.048
Absolute EHI-Score
TIB	0.016	0.002	0.023	−0.090	0.087*	0.048	0.005
TST	0.026	0.027	0.016	−0.015	0.096*	−0.021	0.023
SE	0.035	0.054	0.010	0.097	0.062	−0.029	0.019
SOL	0.022	0.003	0.046	0.018	0.010	0.157	0.074
Nwake	−0.029	−0.053	−0.001	−0.083	−0.047	−0.011	−0.026
WASO	−0.054*	−0.090**	−0.016	−0.110	−0.099*	0.028	−0.050

Notes: *The correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-sided); **The correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-sided).

Abbreviations: TIB, time in bed; TST, total sleep time; SE, sleep efficiency (TST/IB); SOL, sleep onset latency; Nwake, number of awake periods of more than 5 min during night sleep; WASO, time spent awake after sleep onset.

Table 3 Spearman's Rank Correlation of Direction of Handedness (Mean EHI) and Degree of Handedness (Absolute EHI) with Subjective Sleep Parameters Separated by Sex and Age Group

	Total Sample	Female	Male	Female Age 18–45	Female Age ≥ 55	Male Age 18–45	Male Age ≥ 55
N	1764	908	856	190	511	137	519
Mean EHI-Score
TIBPSQI	−0.021	−0.053	0.007	−0.072	−0.011	−0.099	0.003
SDPSQI	−0.012	−0.022	0.004	0.065	−0.011	−0.101	0.023
SEPSQI	0.008	0.029	−0.005	0.070	0.020	−0.006	0.019
SOLPSQI	−0.037	−0.042	−0.044	−0.129	−0.001	−0.077	−0.061
PSQI score	−0.028	−0.035	−0.035	−0.168*	−0.011	0.059	−0.092*
ESS score	−0.049*	−0.055	−0.030	−0.016	−0.094*	0.096	−0.074
D-MEQ score	0.013	0.039	−0.012	−0.033	0.071	−0.080	0.010
Absolute EHI-Score
TIBPSQI	−0.027	−0.052	−0.007	−0.037	−0.015	−0.120	0.000
SDPSQI	−0.018	−0.027	−0.002	0.079	−0.023	−0.093	0.021
SEPSQI	0.009	0.023	0.004	0.046	0.013	0.028	0.019
SOLPSQI	−0.042	−0.041	−0.057	−0.108	0.004	−0.122	−0.067
PSQI score	−0.029	−0.033	−0.042	−0.156*	−0.005	0.043	−0.096*
ESS score	−0.052*	−0.063	−0.027	−0.045	−0.096*	0.102	−0.069
D-MEQ score	0.009	0.038	−0.021	−0.023	0.072	−0.069	0.012

Note: *The correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-sided).

Abbreviations: TIB, time in bed; SD, sleep duration; SE, sleep efficiency (SD/TIB); SOL, sleep onset latency; PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; ESS, Epworth Sleepiness Scale; D-MEQ, Morningness-Eveningness-Questionnaire (chronotype).