ABSTRACT Psychotic‐like experiences are subclinical psychotic symptoms that are usually accompanied by sleep problems, negative emotions, and poorer cognitive functioning. However, their night‐to‐day associations remain understudied in older adults. 72 participants aged 50–79 took part in a home‐based sleep study. After an intelligence test, they reported their sleep quality, dream and morning emotions, psychotic‐like experiences, and subjective cognitive failures for 7 days, in addition to wearing an electroencephalographic headband. Results showed that poorer subjective sleep quality was associated with higher levels of psychotic‐like experiences the following day, a relationship mediated by negative morning and dream emotions. Furthermore, higher subjective cognitive failures and lower IQ were related to more psychotic‐like experiences. Objective sleep parameters were not linked to next‐day psychotic‐like experiences. The results demonstrate that negative emotions play a mediating role between poor sleep quality and psychotic‐like experiences in older adults. Additionally, improved cognitive performance, both subjective and objective, seems to protect against the occurrence of psychotic‐like experiences. The study indicates that sleep, emotions, and cognitive functions are key contributors to daytime psychotic‐like experiences in older adults.
Tomacsek et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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