Objective:Sleep quantity and quality are associated with executive function (EF) in experimental studies, and in individuals with sleep disorders. With advancing age, sleep quantity and quality decline, as does the ability to perform EF tasks, suggesting that sleep disruption may contribute to age-related EF declines. This cross-sectional cohort study tested the hypothesis that poorer sleep quality (i.e., the frequency and duration of awakenings) and/or quantity may partly account for age-related EF deficits.Method:Community-dwelling older adults (N = 184) completed actigraphic sleep monitoring then a range of EF tasks. Two EF factors were extracted using exploratory structural equation modeling. Sleep variables did not mediate the relationship between age and EF factors. Post hoc moderated mediation analyses were conducted to test whether cognitive reserve compensates for sleep-related EF deficits, using years of education as a proxy measure of cognitive reserve.Results:We found a significant interaction between cognitive reserve and the number and frequency of awakenings, explaining a small (approximately 3%), but significant amount of variance in EF. Specifically, in individuals with fewer than 11 years of education, greater sleep disturbance was associated with poorer EF, but sleep did not impact EF in those with more education. There was no association between age and sleep quantity.Conclusions:This study highlights the role of cognitive reserve in the sleep–EF relationship, suggesting individuals with greater cognitive reserve may be able to counter the impact of disturbed sleep on EF. Therefore, improving sleep may confer some protection against EF deficits in vulnerable older adults.

中文翻译：

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睡眠调节认知储备有限的老年人与年龄相关的执行功能

目的：在实验研究和睡眠障碍个体中，睡眠数量和质量与执行功能 (EF) 相关。随着年龄的增长，睡眠数量和质量下降，执行 EF 任务的能力也会下降，这表明睡眠中断可能导致与年龄相关的 EF 下降。这项横断面队列研究检验了睡眠质量（即醒来的频率和持续时间）和/或睡眠质量较差可能部分解释了与年龄相关的 EF 缺陷的假设。方法：居住在社区的老年人（ñ= 184) 完成了活动图睡眠监测，然后完成了一系列 EF 任务。使用探索性结构方程模型提取了两个 EF 因子。睡眠变量没有调节年龄和 EF 因素之间的关系。事后使用受教育年限作为认知储备的替代指标，进行了有调节的中介分析，以测试认知储备是否可以补偿与睡眠相关的 EF 缺陷。结果：我们发现认知储备与觉醒的次数和频率之间存在显着的相互作用，这解释了小（约 3%），但 EF 的差异很大。具体来说，在受教育时间少于 11 年的个体中，睡眠障碍越大，EF 越差，但受教育程度越高的人，睡眠对 EF 没有影响。年龄和睡眠量之间没有关联。结论：这项研究强调了认知储备在睡眠-EF 关系中的作用，表明具有更大认知储备的个体可能能够抵消睡眠障碍对 EF 的影响。所以，