Circadian rhythms of body temperature and activation and the well-being of older women

The circadian parameters of body temperature and activation were studied in relationship to the well-being of 18 healthy women, aged 65-80 years. The women took oral temperature readings with an IVAC 2000 electronic thermometer and completed 1 of 12 alternate forms of the Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List every 2 hours during waking hours for 7 consecutive days (2 subjects followed this procedure for 3 midweek days in 2 consecutive weeks). Approximately 2 hours before going to bed, all subjects completed the General Well-Being Questionnaire that was modified for this study to measure daily fluctuations in well-being. Hypotheses were examined using cosinor analysis and Pearson correlations. Temperature and activation were demonstrated to manifest circadian periodicities. There were no correlations between the parameters of these rhythms and the well-being of the subjects.