Age trends of early awakening and feeling worse in the morning than in the evening in apparently normal people.

Age-specific prevalences of early awakening and feeling worse in the morning than in the evening were studied in 6034 subjects (schoolchildren, students, and employees) aged 9 to 60 years. Early awakening was found to be significantly more prevalent in males at most ages. In both sexes, early awakening was least prevalent in subjects aged 13 to 26 years and feeling worse in the morning than in the evening was most prevalent in subjects in their 20s. In subjects older than 21 years, the age trend of early awakening was a uniform increase, while that of feeling worse in the morning than in the evening was a uniform decrease. These two symptoms show roughly opposite age trends. Increasing prevalence of early awakening with age in endogenous depressives can be viewed at least partly as a reflection of the normal aging process.