Day-to-day directional relationships between sleep duration and negative affect

There is a strong association between sleep disturbance and negative affect. However, the day-to-day directional connections between sleep and negative affect remain unclear. We examined day-to-day relationships between sleep duration and negative affect in community adults. Participants were two subsamples of the Midlife in the United States Study (Sample 1: n = 2,022; Sample 2: n = 782). Daily negative affect and previous night sleep duration were assessed via end-of-day telephone interviews for eight days. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models tested sleep duration as a predictor of next-day negative affect and vice versa, controlling for age, gender, and race. In both samples, shorter sleep duration predicted higher next-day negative affect, but daily negative affect was not a significant predictor of upcoming-night sleep duration. Follow-up analyses indicated that the relationship between sleep duration and negative affect was nonlinear. Sleeping fewer than 7.5 hours or more than 10.5 hours was associated with greater next-day negative affect than sleeping between 7.5 and 10.5 hours. In two large samples of community adults, sleep duration unidirectionally predicted higher next-day negative affect, and this relationship was nonlinear. Sleeping at least 7.5 hours and no more than 10.5 hours appeared to be an optimal range associated with lowest next-day negative affect. •The study examined daily connections between sleep duration and negative affect.•Shorter sleep duration unidirectionally predicted higher next-day negative affect.•Level of daily negative affect was not associated with subsequent sleep time.•Follow-up analyses showed a nonlinear relationship between sleep and affect.•Sleeping fewer than 7.5 or more than 10.5 hours led to greater negative affect.