Daily Sleep and Language Use in Late Life: A Latent Profile Analysis Approach

TL;DR

This study explores how sleep affects language use in older adults, finding that better sleep supports more complex and cognitively engaged language.

Contribution

The study introduces a new approach using latent profile analysis to identify distinct patterns of language use linked to sleep quality in older adults.

Findings

Two distinct language patterns were identified: cognitively engaged complex language and emotionally expressive informal language.

Longer sleep was associated with more cognitively engaged language, especially in those with better cognitive functioning.

Higher-quality sleep increased the likelihood of complex language use regardless of cognitive ability.

Abstract

Language is crucial for older adults’ cognitive activity and social communication, and everyday sleep may play a role in how they talk. This study examines the associations between cognitive functioning, daily sleep, and language use in late life. We used intensive longitudinal data of 266 older adults over 5–6 days from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study (Mage = 73.74). At baseline, participants completed a battery of standard cognitive tests. Across the study period, Electronically Activated Recorder recorded participants’ ambient sound 30 seconds every 7 minutes. Every morning, participants reported their sleep the prior night. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software was used to generate linguistic features from transcriptions of recorded speech, including word count, complexity (i.e., words per sentence, words more than 6 letters), emotionality (positivity, negativity), cognitive processes, and informal language. Day-level Latent Profile Analysis identified 2 classes of older adults’ daily language: cognitively engaged complex language (i.e., more words, more complex language, higher cognitive processing; 90%) and emotionally expressive informal language (i.e., simpler language, more emotional and informal expressions; 10%). Older adults were more likely to generate cognitively engaged complex language when they had longer-than-usual (versus shorter-than-usual) sleep the prior night, especially for those with better cognitive functioning. Reporting higher-quality prior night’s sleep was also linked to a greater likelihood of generating cognitively engaged complex language regardless of cognitive functioning. Findings suggest specific patterns of daily language use in late life, and highlight the importance of sleep in supporting cognitively engaged language use among older adults.