Changes in Sleep Duration and Sleep Timing Associated with Retirement Transitions

Abstract

Investigate whether retirement transitions are associated with changes in sleep duration and sleep timing, and whether these associations are modified by age, sex, mental health, or circadian preference. The Retirement and Sleep Trajectories (REST) study is a longitudinal study consisting of four annual mailed surveys that collected information about employment, sleep, and health. Differences in reported sleep duration, bedtime and wake time between successive surveys were calculated to estimate change over 1, 2, and 3 y. Linear regression models were used to estimate changes in these sleep parameters associated with retirement 1, 2, and 3 y posttransition. Retiring from full-time work was associated with bedtimes that were 30, 31, and 36 min later 1, 2, and 3 y postretirement; wake times that were 63, 69, and 78 min later; and sleep durations that were 15, 16, and 22 min longer 1, 2, and 3 y postretirement. These associations did not differ by sex or mental health status. Age and circadian preference modified the associations between retirement and change in sleep parameters; the increase in sleep duration was shorter and the wake time extension was lesser with advancing retirement age; those with evening preference had longer wake time extensions than those with morning preference. Transitioning to retirement is associated with longer sleep duration, later bedtimes, and later wake times. These changes were detectable about 1 y postwork transition and were persistent up to 3 y later. This study provides evidence that sleep schedules, even among older adults, are constrained by work schedules; shortly (perhaps immediately) following retiring from employment, study participants adopted later bedtimes and even later waketimes. As a result, retirees had longer sleep durations than their working counterparts. Significant interactions between working status and both age and circadian preference suggest that constraints on “naturally occurring” sleep schedules are not experienced uniformly. Younger retirees changed their sleep schedules to a greater extent than older retirees. Additionally, circadian preference strongly affected postretirement changes in sleep duration and timing, suggesting that those with evening chronotype were substantially more constrained by work schedules than those with morning chronotype.

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