Sleep efficiency explained

Sleep efficiency (SE) is the ratio between the time a person spends asleep, and the total time dedicated to sleep (i.e. both sleeping and attempting to fall asleep or fall back asleep). It is given as a percentage.^[1] SE of 80% or more is considered normal/healthy with most young healthy adults displaying SE above 90%.^[2] SE can be determined with a polysomnograph and is an important parameter of a sleep study.^[3]

Sleep efficiency is often described as the ratio between time spent asleep ("total sleep time (TST)"), and time spent "in bed" ("time in bed (TIB)"), however, TIB does not encompass "non-sleep-related activities" performed in bed (e.g. reading, watching television, etc.) as the phrase may seem to suggest.

Clinical significance

Long sleep duration may be a sign of low sleep efficiency.^[4] SE is significantly reduced in insomnia; SE is therefore an important clinical parameter in clinical investigations of insomnia. SE declines with age and low SE is common in the elderly.^[5] Furthermore, lower values of SE are often observed in sleep studies on pregnant populations and are mostly explained by the increased awakening periods after sleep onset (''wake after sleep onset (WASO)'').^[6]

Notes and References

1. Reed. David L.. Sacco. William P.. 2016-02-15. Measuring Sleep Efficiency: What Should the Denominator Be?. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine . 12. 2. 263–266. 10.5664/jcsm.5498. 1550-9389. 4751425. 26194727.
2. Web site: Interpreting A Sleep Study. 2021-05-17. Sleep WA. en-US.
3. Shrivastava. Deepak. Jung. Syung. Saadat. Mohsen. Sirohi. Roopa. Crewson. Keri. 2014-11-25. How to interpret the results of a sleep study. Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives. 4. 5. 24983. 10.3402/jchimp.v4.24983. 2000-9666. 4246141. 25432643.
4. Chaput. Jean-Philippe. Dutil. Caroline. Sampasa-Kanyinga. Hugues. 2018-11-27. Sleeping hours: what is the ideal number and how does age impact this?. Nature and Science of Sleep. 10. 421–430. 10.2147/NSS.S163071. 1179-1608. 6267703. 30568521 . free .
5. Desjardins. Sophie. Lapierre. Sylvie. Hudon. Carol. Desgagné. Alain. 2019-02-15. Factors involved in sleep efficiency: a population-based study of community-dwelling elderly persons. Sleep. 42. 5. 10.1093/sleep/zsz038. 0161-8105. 6519908. 30768200.
6. Wilson . Danielle L. . Barnes . Maree . Ellett . Lenore . Permezel . Michael . Jackson . Martin . Crowe . Simon F. . February 2011 . Decreased sleep efficiency, increased wake after sleep onset and increased cortical arousals in late pregnancy: Decreased sleep efficiency in late pregnancy . Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology . en . 51 . 1 . 38–46 . 10.1111/j.1479-828X.2010.01252.x. 21299507 . 1125445 .