Gender differences in overnight regulation of anxious mood, negative affect, and positive affect

The present study addressed four questions: (1) Does sleep actively regulate "normal" levels of tension/anxiety, negative affect, and positive affect in a non-clinical population? (2) Is REM sleep the factor responsible for this regulatory function? (3) Do females have increased levels of pre-sleep tension/anxiety and negative affect to regulate? and (4) Do females show a smaller decrease in anxious mood and negative affect following sleep---before and after controlling for pre-sleep levels of tension/anxiety and negative affect? Methods. 60 volunteers were recruited for a 2-night sleep study. The Profile of Mood States, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Beck Depression Inventory were administered 10 minutes prior to lights out (11:00 P.M.). Participants were then woken at 7:00 A.M. and given another POMS and PANAS. Results . There were significant decreases in pre-sleep anxious mood for both men and women. However, as predicted, pre-sleep to morning changes in anxious mood specifically were greater for men than for women. There were no significant decreases in pre-sleep negative affect following sleep for either men or women, but there was a trend for men to have higher levels of positive affect intensity regardless of time of day. Conclusions. These results support the idea of a significant reduction in pre-sleep anxious mood following sleep. These results also substantiate the hypotheses that there are gender differences in this process, and that this process will occur even when there are non-pathological levels of anxiety to regulate.