Clocks & Sleep

Introduction: Sleep quality has been associated with cognitive, psychological, and physical outcomes in older adults; however, its relationship with intrinsic capacity (IC) as a multidimensional construct remains insufficiently understood. Objective: Our objective was to investigate the association between sleep quality and overall IC and its individual domains in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 477 physically independent community-dwelling adults. Sleep quality was assessed using the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The five IC domains were assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, Short Physical Performance Battery, Snellen chart and Whispered Voice Test, and Mini Nutritional Assessment. Domain scores were combined into an overall IC score ranging from 0 to 10. Overall IC and each domain were classified as preserved or impaired. Associations were examined using Poisson regression. Results: The largest association was observed for psychological impairment (PR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.23–3.84), followed by locomotor impairment (PR = 1.32; 95% CI: 1.02–1.77). Smaller estimates were observed for overall IC (PR = 1.16; 95% CI: 0.99–1.36) and sensory impairment (PR = 1.14; 95% CI: 0.99–1.32), with confidence intervals including the null value. Little evidence of association was found for cognitive or vitality impairment. Conclusions: Poor sleep quality was associated with a higher prevalence of psychological and locomotor impairment. However, overlapping confidence intervals and the absence of formal comparisons between outcomes preclude concluding that the associations differ across IC domains.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with neurodevelopment, emotional regulation, circadian rhythms, and physiological homeostasis, exerting lifelong effects on both psychological and physical health. Individuals exposed to ACEs have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease than the general population. We screened for high-risk ACEs and determined their associations with circadian syndrome (CircS) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Based on the 20 ACE indicators identified in previous research, we coded two additional indicators and performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to examine the associations of individual ACE indicators with CircS and MetS. After using LASSO regression to screen for high-risk ACEs for the two syndromes, we conducted a mutually exclusive combination analysis. Illness-related school absence, bed rest, or hospitalization was associated with the highest increased prevalence for CircS, with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.27 (1.10, 1.46). For MetS, parental anxiety/depression symptoms were the only ACE indicator showing a statistically significant inverse association. For the ACE combinations, associations with the two syndromes were only observed for specific ACE combinations. Notably, the combination of parental anxiety/depressive symptoms, poor parent–child relationship, parental favoritism, and childhood food insecurity/starvation significantly increased the prevalence of both CircS and MetS, with ORs of 3.63 (1.39, 9.50) for CircS and 3.01 (1.13, 7.96) for MetS. ACE indicators and their combinations confer an elevated prevalence of CircS and MetS in the Chinese population, with the magnitude of association varying across individual ACEs.

Background/Objectives: Experimental sleep loss can increase pain sensitivity, but sleep duration, continuity, and architecture are often altered simultaneously. This focused review compared pain outcomes across experimental sleep manipulations in healthy adults, with particular attention to sleep fragmentation (SF) and related awakening paradigms. Methods: PubMed and Web of Science Core Collection were searched through 16 September 2026; reference and citation checking identified additional reports. Eligible reports were synthesized narratively by sleep manipulation, design, pain modality, and dynamic pain-processing outcome. Designs included randomized or counterbalanced crossover studies, other within-participant or repeated-measures experiments, and parallel-group studies. Results: Fifty-two reports met the eligibility criteria. After overlapping and nested publications were consolidated, they formed 40 publication families comprising 41 provisionally distinct participant samples and approximately 1083 participants with analyzable data. Non-mutually exclusive categories comprised 21 reports of total sleep deprivation (TSD) or prolonged wakefulness, 17 of partial sleep restriction (PSR) or night-shift exposure, two directly evaluating SF, 10 evaluating related planned- or forced-awakening paradigms, six evaluating selective sleep-stage disruption, and two reports from provisionally distinct samples evaluating combined short and disrupted sleep. TSD and PSR showed the broadest evidence of increased pain sensitivity, but effects varied by modality and outcome. Both direct-SF reports identified at least one hyperalgesic outcome; the awakening literature was suggestive but contained multiple reports from shared samples. The combined protocol did not isolate sleep continuity from reduced duration. Conclusions: Disrupted sleep continuity may contribute to hyperalgesia, but an independent effect of SF remains uncertain because direct evidence is limited and awakening protocols often also change sleep duration, architecture, stress, or circadian timing.