Citation

Duffy JF, Wang W, Ronda JM, Czeisler CA. J. Pineal. Res. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jpi.12801

PMID

35436355

Abstract

Aging is associated with changes in sleep, and improving sleep may have important consequences for the health, cognition, and quality of life of older adults. Many prescription sleep aids increase the risk of nighttime falls, have adverse effects on next-day cognition, and are associated with increased mortality. Melatonin, a hormone secreted at night, increases sleep duration in young adults but only when administered during the day when endogenous levels are low. In a month-long cross-over study, we randomized 24 healthy older (age >55, mean 64.2 ± 6.3 years) participants to receive two weeks of placebo and two weeks of either a low (0.3 mg) or high (5.o mg) dose of melatonin 30 minutes before sleep. Sleep was polysomnographically recorded and was scheduled during both the biological day and night using a forced desynchrony design. While 0.3 mg melatonin had a trend towards increasing sleep efficiency overall, this was due to it's effects on sleep during the biological day. In contrast, 5 mg melatonin significantly increased sleep efficiency during both biological day and night, mainly by increasing the duration of stage 2 nonREM sleep and slightly shortening awakenings. Melatonin should be further explored as a sleep aid for older adults. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

aging; sleep; biological clock; circadian rhythm; hypnotic effect; melatonin