ArticleSleep2011
Loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation in a communal society.
Article in Sleep, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04646642 (Psychological Health, Coping Strategies and Preferences of David Grant USAF Medical Center COVID-19 Deployers), which is not on this map. Cited by 113 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Psychological Health, Coping Strategies and Preferences of David Grant USAF Medical Center COVID-19 Deployers: A Critical Needs Assessment
Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 228 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sleep and affect: A conceptual review.Sleep medicine reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Sleep disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.Sleep medicine reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Investigating insomnia as a cross-sectional and longitudinal predictor of loneliness: Findings from six samples.Psychiatry research · 2017Pooled it
- Loneliness and social isolation is associated with sleep problems among older community dwelling women and men with complex needs.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Omega-3 supplementation and loneliness-related memory problems: secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial.Psychosomatic medicine · 2014Trial
- Social Isolation Causes Behavioural Abnormalities and Reduces Synaptic Proteins in the Brains ofBiology · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Loneliness and Sleep Disturbances: The Roles of Community Resilience, Social Support, Anxiety, and Substance Use Coping.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Worrying about future finances and sleep problems: loneliness as a psychosocial pathway.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Severe Loneliness Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults at Risk of Falls in Andalusia: Epidemiological Determinants and Clinical Correlates of Pain and Sleep Quality.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Loneliness and Sleep Quality Among Older Adults Living in Nursing Homes.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Article
- Article
- Identification of genetic associations and key influences contributing to the pathway from social isolation or loneliness to depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Digital Phenotyping for Adolescent Mental Health: Feasibility Study Using Machine Learning to Predict Mental Health Risk From Active and Passive Smartphone Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Clinical relevance of loneliness in the treatment of depression: study protocol for a naturalistic prospective longitudinal study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- GIGEM (Group Isolation Gauge Effect Metrics), A Software Suite for Analyzing Social Isolation-Induced Sleep Loss and Multi-Batch Experiments inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Understanding Latine disparities in nocturnal wakefulness as a suicide risk factor.Sleep epidemiology · 2025Article
- Perceived economic inequality is linked to poorer sleep quality.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Prospective Associations Among Loneliness and Health for Servicemembers: Perceived Helplessness and Negative Coping Appraisal as Explanatory Mechanisms.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Cumulative loneliness and memory function among U.S. older adults: the role of depressive symptoms.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveLoneliness has been shown to predict poor health. One hypothesized mechanism is that lonely individuals do not sleep as well as individuals who feel more connected to others. Our goal was to test whether loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation or sleep duration.
designCross-sectional study.
settingMembers of a traditional, communal, agrarian society living in South Dakota.
participantsNinety-five participants (mean age 39.8 years, 55% female) who were ≥ 19 years of age at the study's inception.
interventionsNot applicable. MEASUREMENTS AND
resultsWe conducted interviews querying loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as subjective sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. Study participants wore a wrist actigraph for one week to measure objective sleep properties; the two studied here were sleep fragmentation and sleep duration. Higher loneliness scores were associated with significantly higher levels of sleep fragmentation (β = 0.073, t = 2.55, P = 0.01), controlling for age, sex, body mass index, risk of sleep apnea, and negative affect (a factor comprising symptoms of depression and anxiety, and perceived stress). Loneliness was not associated with sleep duration or with either subjective sleep measure.
conclusionsLoneliness was a significant predictor of sleep fragmentation. Humans' social nature may partly be manifest through our dependence on feeling secure in our social environment to sleep well.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.