Self-report Sleep Habits as Predictors of Subjective Sleepiness

Abstract

Although sleepiness is pervasive in our society, there is little agreement on how to measure sleepiness or on how well sleepiness is actually related to sleep habits. To better assess how subjective sleepiness is related to sleep, the authors used self-report measures of sleep quantity, sleep quality, and napping to predict 4 different sleepiness-related measures in a group of healthy young and middle-aged-to-older adults. A forward regression analysis indicated that sleep quality was better than sleep quantity as a predictor of participants' sleepiness. The sleep measures, furthermore, predicted sleepiness better in the older adults than in the younger adults. Finally, the 4 sleepiness measures differed in how well they were related to sleep. The findings in the study suggest that sleepiness is a complex phenomenon rather than a simple reflection of sleep quantity.

Index Terms:

• self-report data
• sleep
• sleep quality
• sleep quantity
• sleepiness

Additional information

Notes on contributors

June J. Pilcher

Dr Pilcher is with the Department of Psychology at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where Mr Schoeling and Ms Prosansky were students at the time this research was completed. Mr Schoeling is now a graduate student at the University of Dayton, and Ms Prosansky is a graduate student at the University of Iowa.