Subjective ratings of the characteristics and sequelae of good and poor sleep in normals.

Forty normal subjects completed a general screening inventory and two post-sleep questionnaires (PSQs). One PSQ was self-administered after a good night of sleep and one after a poor night of sleep. Responses to a subset of items from both nights were factor-analyzed. Varimax rotation yielded four factors that were interpreted as (a) Dysphoria (b) Cognitive Inefficiency and Sleepiness (c) Motor Impairment and (d) Social Discomfort. Night-to-night comparisons of subjects' estimates of sleep parameters reveal that poor sleep is associated with longer sleep latency, a greater number of awakenings, less total sleep time, and more difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep than good sleep. Mean scores for each generated factor of the PSQ also differed significantly between nights, suggesting that a greater degree of disturbance is associated with poor sleep. The implications of these data as well as the reliability of subjective ratings of sleep quality and post-sleep experiences are discussed.