The Relationship Between Sleep Duration and Life Satisfaction in Middle-aged and Older Adults: evidence from China

Authors

  • Chao Hao Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China
  • Feiyang Xie Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China
  • Naifeng Bu Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China
  • Xue Wang Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47679/jopp.8214522026

Keywords:

aging, sleep duration, life satisfaction, physical health, mental health, mediation effect

Abstract

Aging is becoming increasingly common worldwide, which has a profound impact on the social structure, making it imperative to enhance the life satisfaction of the middle-aged and older adults. While life satisfaction serves as a crucial metric for assessing quality of life in aging societies, empirical evidence suggests improvement lags behind advancements in medical technology and living standards. Thus, identifying the key factors influencing their life satisfaction is crucial. We employed data from 12,525 validated samples from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study to examine sleep's impact on life satisfaction through multiple mediation modeling. The findings revealed that insufficient sleep emerged as a widespread phenomenon significantly compromising the life satisfaction of the middle-aged and older adults. Physical health and depressive symptoms mediated 85% of sleep's total effect, with depressive symptoms alone accounting for 65% of the mediation. The disproportionate mediation effect of depressive symptoms highlights mental health's critical role in the well-being assessment of the middle-aged and older adults.

Author Biographies

Chao Hao, Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou

Chao Hao is a lecturer at the School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, China. She holds a PhD degree. Her research interests include design psychology, sleep health, and cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on understanding how design influences human cognition and well-being.

Feiyang Xie, Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou

Feiyang Xie, an associate professor at the School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, China, is dedicated to digital design research, exploring innovative approaches in the field

Naifeng Bu, Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou

Naifeng Bu, an associate professor at the School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, China, focuses on cultural and creative design and delves into intelligent interaction design research.

Xue Wang, Research Center for Social and Economic Development of Comprehensive Health and Aging, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou

Xue Wang, a lecturer at the School of Art and Design, Guangzhou College of Commerce, China, is actively engaged in undergraduate education. Holding a master's degree, her research interests encompass design psychology and product design tailored for the elderly.

References

Andresen, E. M., Malmgren, J. A., Carter, W. B., & Patrick, D. L. (1994). Screening for Depression in Well Older Adults: Evaluation of a Short Form of the CES-D. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 10(2), 77-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(18)30622-6

Bliwise, D. L., & Young, T. B. (2007). The Parable of Parabola: What the U-Shaped Curve Can and Cannot Tell Us about Sleep. Sleep, 30(12), 1614-1615. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/30.12.1614

Brouwer, A., van de Ven, P. M., Kok, A., Snoek, F. J., Beekman, A. T. F., & Bremmer, M. A. (2022). Symptoms of depression and insomnia in older age: A within-individual analysis over 20 years. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 70(7), 2051-2059. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.17765

Clark, W. A., Yi, D., & Huang, Y. (2019). Subjective well-being in China’s changing society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(34), 16799-16804. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1902926116

Crowley K. (2011). Sleep and sleep disorders in older adults. Neuropsychology review, 21(1), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-010-9154-6

de Almondes, K. M., Costa, M. V., Malloy-Diniz, L. F., & Diniz, B. S. (2016). The Relationship between Sleep Complaints, Depression, and Executive Functions on Older Adults. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 1547. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01547

Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (2000). Explaining Differences in Societal Levels of Happiness: Relative Standards, Need Fulfillment, Culture, and Evaluation Theory. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(1), 41-78. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010076127199

Diener, E., Wolsic, B., & Fujita, F. (1995). Physical attractiveness and subjective well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(1), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.1.120

Du, M., Liu, M., Wang, Y., Qin, C., & Liu, J. (2023). Global burden of sleep disturbances among older adults and the disparities by geographical regions and pandemic periods. SSM - population health, 25, 101588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101588

Freire, T., & Ferreira, G. (2019). Do I Need to Be Positive to Be Happy? Considering the Role of Self-Esteem, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Distress in Portuguese Adolescents’ Subjective Happiness. Psychological Reports, 123(4), 1064-1082. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119846064

Gana, K., Bailly, N., Saada, Y., Joulain, M., Trouillet, R., Hervé, C., & Alaphilippe, D. (2013). Relationship between life satisfaction and physical health in older adults: A longitudinal test of cross-lagged and simultaneous effects. Health Psychology, 32(8), 896–904. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031656

Gulia, K. K., & Kumar, V. M. (2018). Sleep disorders in the elderly: a growing challenge. Psychogeriatrics, 18(3), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyg.12319

Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.

Hirshkowitz, M., Whiton, K., Albert, S. M., Alessi, C., Bruni, O., DonCarlos, L., Hazen, N., Herman, J., Adams Hillard, P. J., Katz, E. S., Kheirandish-Gozal, L., Neubauer, D. N., O'Donnell, A. E., Ohayon, M., Peever, J., Rawding, R., Sachdeva, R. C., Setters, B., Vitiello, M. V., & Ware, J. C. (2015). National Sleep Foundation's updated sleep duration recommendations: final report. Sleep health, 1(4), 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2015.10.004

Killgore W. D. (2010). Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. Progress in brain research, 185, 105–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5

Koivumaa-Honkanen, H., Tuovinen, T. K., Honkalampi, K., Antikainen, R., Hintikka, J., Haatainen, K., & Viinamäki, H. (2008). Mental health and well-being in a 6-year follow-up of patients with depression. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(9), 688-696. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0353-x

Krause, A. J., Simon, E. B., Mander, B. A., Greer, S. M., Saletin, J. M., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. N., & Walker, M. P. (2017). The sleep-deprived human brain. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 18(7), 404–418. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.55

Lee, W., Lee, S.-A., Chung, Y.-S., & Kim, W. S. (2015). The Relation Between Apnea and Depressive Symptoms in Men with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Mediational Effects of Sleep Quality. Lung, 193(2), 261-267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-015-9687-9

Li, C., Xia, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2023). Relationship between subjective well-being and depressive disorders: Novel findings of cohort variations and demographic heterogeneities. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022643

Lin, L.-H., Xu, W.-Q., Wang, S.-B., Hu, Q., Zhang, P., Huang, J.-H., Ke, Y.-F., Ding, K.-R., Hou, C.-L., & Jia, F.-J.. (2022). U-shaped association between sleep duration and subjective cognitive complaints in Chinese elderly: a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03738-0

Liu, Q., Pan, H., & Pei, Y. (2022). Sleep duration and life satisfaction among older people in China: a longitudinal investigation. Current Psychology, 42(35), 30737-30746. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04104-9

Madan Jha V. (2022). The prevalence of sleep loss and sleep disorders in young and old adults. Aging brain, 3, 100057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100057

Mao, T., Fang, Z., Chai, Y., Deng, Y., Rao, J., Quan, P., Goel, N., Basner, M., Guo, B., Dinges, D. F., Liu, J., Detre, J. A., & Rao, H. (2024). Sleep deprivation attenuates neural responses to outcomes from risky decision-making. Psychophysiology, 61(4), e14465. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14465

Moraes, W., Piovezan, R., Poyares, D., Bittencourt, L. R., Santos-Silva, R., & Tufik, S. (2014). Effects of aging on sleep structure throughout adulthood: a population-based study. Sleep medicine, 15(4), 401-409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2013.11.791

Nan, Y., Feng, T., Hu, Y., & Qi, X. (2020). Understanding Aging Policies in China: A Bibliometric Analysis of Policy Documents, 1978-2019. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(16), 5956. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165956

Nes, R. B., Czajkowski, N. O., Røysamb, E., Orstavik, R. E., Tambs, K., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2013). Major depression and life satisfaction: a population-based twin study. Journal of affective disorders, 144(1-2), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2012.05.060

Nguyen, A. D., Costa, P. C., & Raizen, D. M. (2024). A perfect storm: sleep loss causes systemic inflammation and death. Cell Research, 34(5), 341-342. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-023-00924-x

Ohayon, M. M., Carskadon, M. A., Guilleminault, C., & Vitiello, M. V. (2004). Meta-analysis of quantitative sleep parameters from childhood to old age in healthy individuals: developing normative sleep values across the human lifespan. Sleep, 27(7), 1255-1273. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/27.7.1255

Palmer, C. A., Bower, J. L., Cho, K. W., Clementi, M. A., Lau, S., Oosterhoff, B., & Alfano, C. A. (2024). Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research. Psychological Bulletin, 150(4), 440–463. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000410

Phulkerd, S., Thapsuwan, S., Chamratrithirong, A., & Gray, R. S. (2021). Influence of healthy lifestyle behaviors on life satisfaction in the aging population of Thailand: a national population-based survey. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-10032-9

Read, J. R., Sharpe, L., Modini, M., & Dear, B. F. (2017). Multimorbidity and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of affective disorders, 221, 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.06.009

Ventura-Leon, J., Caycho-Rodriguez, T., Talledo-Sanchez, K., & Casiano-Valdivieso, K. (2022). Depression, COVID-19 Anxiety, Subjective Well-being, and Academic Performance in University Students With COVID-19-Infected Relatives: A Network Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 837606. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.837606

Zhao, Y., John Strauss, Gonghuan Yang, John Giles, Peifeng (Perry) Hu,Yisong Hu, Xiaoyan Lei, Man Liu, Albert Park, James P. Smith, Yafeng Wang. (2013). China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study: 2011-2012 National Baseline User’s Guide. National School of Development, Peking University.

Zhi, T. F., Sun, X. M., Li, S. J., Wang, Q. S., Cai, J., Li, L. Z., Li, Y. X., Xu, M. J., Wang, Y., Chu, X. F., Wang, Z. D., & Jiang, X. Y. (2016). Associations of sleep duration and sleep quality with life satisfaction in elderly Chinese: The mediating role of depression. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 65, 211–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2016.03.023

Zhu, C., Lian, Z., Huang, Y., Zhong, Q., & Wang, J.. (2023). Association between subjective well-being and all-cause mortality among older adults in China. BMC Psychiatry, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05079-y

Downloads

Published

2026-04-11

How to Cite

Hao, C., Xie, F., Bu, N., & Wang, X. (2026). The Relationship Between Sleep Duration and Life Satisfaction in Middle-aged and Older Adults: evidence from China. Journal of Psychological Perspective, 8(2), 71–80. https://doi.org/10.47679/jopp.8214522026

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Original Research Articles

Citation Check

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Chao Hao, Feiyang Xie, Naifeng Bu, Xue Wang

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright Policy

Journal of Psychological Perspective (JOPP) is committed to promoting academic freedom and open access. To that end, we apply a copyright policy that empowers authors while ensuring the broad dissemination and responsible reuse of published work.

  • Authors retain the full copyright of their published manuscripts.
  • By publishing in JOPP, authors grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
  • This license permits others to:
    • Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format),
    • Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially),
    • As long as appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and derivative works are distributed under the same license.
  • Authors may:
    • Deposit and share the published version of their work in institutional repositories or personal websites.
    • Enter into separate, non-exclusive distribution agreements, provided that original publication in JOPP is properly cited.

Licensing and Copyright for Data Publication

To promote transparency, reproducibility, and ethical integrity in research, Journal of Psychological Perspective adopts the following policies regarding the publication of research data:

  • Copyright Ownership: Authors retain copyright over the datasets they submit or make available in connection with their articles.
  • Default License: All data associated with a published manuscript must be shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), unless otherwise agreed upon with the editor.
  • Permitted Use: This license allows others to use, modify, and distribute the dataset (including for commercial purposes), provided that attribution is given to the original authors and that derivative works are shared under the same terms.
  • Repository: Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit copies of their accepted manuscripts in institutional repositories or subject-specific archives. (e.g., OSF, Zenodo, Figshare) and include citations and links to the datasets in the article.
  • Ethical and Legal Responsibility: Authors must ensure:
    • The data shared do not breach confidentiality, privacy, or legal agreements.
    • Informed consent has been obtained where necessary.
    • Data have been properly anonymized where applicable.
  • Alternate Licenses: In exceptional cases, alternative data licenses (e.g., CC0, Open Data Commons) may be considered upon editorial approval. A written justification must be submitted and published alongside the article.
  • Corrections or Retractions: If issues related to published data arise (e.g., ethical breaches, significant errors), JOPP reserves the right to take corrective action in accordance with the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Please read our policy about retraction of articles

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.