Midlife sleep problems affect long-term psychological well-being in women

A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2026 annual meeting found that sleep problems in middle-aged and older adults are tied to lower psychological well-being nine years later. The link was stronger in women than in men, suggesting that sleep may play an outsized role in how women feel and function later in life.

The study tracked adults over a nine-year period. Those who reported trouble sleeping in midlife scored lower on measures of psychological well-being years later. The pattern held even after researchers accounted for other health and lifestyle factors such as age, sex, education, employment status, partner status, number of illnesses, and baseline psychological well-being. Moderation analyses found that the association between sleep problems and psychological well-being differed significantly by sex. After adjusting for covariates, the association remained statistically significant for females but not for males.

Sleep problems appear to have lasting negative effects on psychological well-being over nearly a decade, and these effects were more pronounced among females in our sample. This suggests that sleep may be a particularly important long-term risk factor for psychological well-being in women."

Fumiko Hamada, lead author, researcher and doctoral student, University of South Florida, Tampa

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleep is essential to health, and it requires adequate duration, good quality, appropriate timing and regularity, and the absence of sleep disturbances or disorders. Research has shown that women are more likely than men to report insomnia and other sleep problems, and sleep disturbances may have differential effects on health outcomes across sexes.

The study analyzed data from 574 middle-aged and older adults who participated in the Midlife in the United States study at two time points: 2005–2006 and 2013–2017. The mean age at baseline was 51.7 years, and 55% of participants were female. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and psychological well-being was measured using a validated 42-item questionnaire. Linear regression models examined the prospective association between baseline sleep problems and follow-up psychological well-being, and interaction terms were used to test whether sex moderated this association.

Hamada noted that the findings point to the potential value of early, sex-specific approaches to sleep intervention.

"Developing early sleep interventions that account for sex differences may be an important avenue for protecting psychological well-being over time," Hamada said.

The research abstract was published recently in an online supplement of the journal Sleep and will be presented June 17 during SLEEP 2026 in Baltimore. SLEEP is the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.