0229 Poor Habitual Sleep Quality Predicts Heightened Interoceptive Awareness Particularly with Older Age

Abstract Introduction Interoception is the sensation of the body’s internal states. Previous literature suggests that disordered sleep, including insomnia, in younger participants is associated with altered interoceptive awareness. However, the relationship between habitual sleep and interoception in healthy individuals observed across the adult lifespan, including old adults who tend to have poorer sleep quality, remains unclear. Methods Here, we aimed to disentangle the impact of poor habitual sleep and older age on interoceptive awareness. Seventy-two participants ranging across the adult lifespan (ages 18 to 78) were asked to perform subjective and objective measures of interoception. Specifically, they completed a self-report questionnaire regarding subjective interoceptive beliefs and performed an objective tapping task in which they tapped in resonance with their perceived heartbeats. Finally, we varied demands on autonomic arousal by asking participants to rate the intensity of sensation in their heart in response to viewing emotionally arousing images. Their habitual sleep patterns were measured using actigraphy for 7 days. Results Higher levels of sleep discontinuity (i.e., WASO, fragmentation) predicted greater performance in the objective interoception heartbeat counting task (β=0.254, p=0.049) across age. Greater night-to-night variability in sleep time was associated with greater interoceptive awareness when autonomic arousal was manipulated in the emotional viewing task, particularly with increasing age (Age x Sleep Variability, β=0.279, p=0.023). Similarly, reduced sleep time predicted better interoceptive awareness in the same task, particularly with increasing age (Age x Sleep Time, β=-0.322, p=0.012). Higher levels of variability in sleep discontinuity, another indicator of poor sleep quality, predicted greater subjective interoceptive beliefs across ages (β=0.242, p=0.046). Conclusion The results support the idea that habitually poor sleep quality and increased sleep variability may contribute to better interoception, and that this relationship is strengthened with increasing age. Support (if any) This research was supported by NSF award # 2152492.