Actigraphically evaluated sleep on the days surrounding the Great East Japan Earthquake

The present study examined actigraphically evaluated sleep on the days surrounding the greatest earthquake in Japanese history. The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred unexpectedly on the third day of a 1-week actigraphy measurement. The subjects were eight elderly (73.1 ± 4.3 years, mean ± SD) individuals living in Sendai city, one of the largest cities damaged by the earthquake. All of the subjects wore their actigraph devices until 2 days after the earthquake. The results showed that wake after sleep onset (WASO) was significantly increased (118 ± 29 min, mean ± SE) the first night after the earthquake compared with pre-earthquake values (35 ± 12 min). The subjects described being awoken by frequent aftershocks the first night. This sleep debt was recovered the next day through significant increases in daytime napping and the length of nocturnal sleep periods resulting from earlier bedtimes. An electrical blackout that lasted 2–3 days seemed to be associated with earlier bedtimes by inducing a dark and cold environment. One subject who evacuated to a school gymnasium after the earthquake suffered severely disturbed sleep due to cold temperatures (nocturnal WASO over 180 min). These findings suggest that the environmental factors related to disrupted infrastructure might have considerable impacts on sleep in the first several days after the catastrophic disaster. The findings should be considered for future disaster preparedness initiatives. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014