Lower-limb warming improves sleep quality in elderly people living in nursing homes (original) (raw)

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2017; 10(02): 87-91
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20170016

Chika Oshima-Saeki

1Department of Nursing, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

Yuiko Taniho

2Komatsu Nursing School

,

Hiromi Arita

3Department of Nursing Science, Nursing and Social Welfare, Fukui Prefectural University

,

Etsuko Fujimoto

1Department of Nursing, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

› Author Affiliations

Sleep disturbances are common in older people. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a hot pack, which was used to warm the lower limbs, on the sleep of elderly people living in a nursing home. This is a prospective cohort involving seven elderly women. Subjects aged 74-93 years old were treated by warming the lower limbs for 40 minutes using hot packs every night over 8 weeks. A hot pack made of a dense polymer and warmed in a microwave oven was used as a warming device. In the first and last week, the subjects were required to wear an activity monitor to determine their sleep-awake status. During the second to ninth week, they received limb-warming treatment by a hot pack heated to 42°C for 40 min every night. Surface skin temperature data were collected by thermographic measurement. As a result, lower-limb warming by a hot pack significantly improved the quality of sleep in the subjects. During warming, the surface temperature of the hands and face rose by approximately 0.5-1.5°C. This study showed that lower-limb warming with a hot pack reduced sleep latency and wake episodes after sleep onset; thus, improving the quality of sleep in elderly people living in a nursing home.

Equipment and supplies - Skin temperature - Sleep wake disorders - Sleep - Lower extremity - Aged

Publication History

Received: 30 September 2016

Accepted: 13 January 2017

Article published online:
09 October 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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