Butt, MaryamQuan, StuartPentland, Alex (Sandy)Khaya, Inas2015-06-042015Butt, Maryam, Stuart Fun Quan, Alex (Sandy) Pentland, and Inas Khaya. 2015. “Gender Differences in Real-Home Sleep of Young and Older Couples.” Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care 10 (5) (May 19): 289–299. doi:10.13175/swjpcc068-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc068-15.2160-6773http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:16145973Objectives: To understand gender differences in sleep quality, architecture and duration of young healthy couples in comparison to older couples in their natural sleep environment. Design: Sleep was monitored in a naturalistic setting using a headband sleep monitoring device over a period of two weeks for young couples and home polysomnography for the older couples. Participants: Ten heterosexual young couples (male mean age: 28.2 1.0[SD] years /female mean age: 26.8 0.9 years) and 14 older couples (male mean age: 59.3+ 9.6 years/female mean age: 58.8+ 9.1 years). Measurements and results: In the young couples, total sleep time (395+66 vs. 367+54 min., p<0.05), sleep efficiency (97.0+3.0 vs. 91.1+7.9, p<0.001), and % REM (31.1+4.8 vs. 23.6+5.5, p<0.001) in males was higher than in females. In contrast, % light sleep (51.7+7.1 vs. 59.7+6.7, p<0.001) and number of arousals (2.9+1.9 vs. 5.3+1.9, p<0.001) were lower. These differences persisted after controlling for evening mood and various evening pre-sleep activities. In the older couples, there were no differences between genders. In addition, children in the household adversely impacted sleep. Conclusions: In couples recorded in the home, young males slept longer and had better sleep quality than young females. This difference appears to dissipate with age. In-home assessment of couples can aid in understanding of gender differences in sleep and how they are affected by age and social environment.en-USJournal Article2015-05-20Maryam Butt, M.Sc. Stuart F. Quan, M.D. Alex (Sandy) Pentland, Ph.D. Inas Khayal, Ph.D.2015-06-0410.13175/swjpcc068-15