A questionnaire survey of sleep and night-time behaviour in a community-based sample of adults with intellectual disability.
Most adults with ID in community homes wake at night—check for epilepsy, caffeine, and incontinence.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team mailed a short sleep survey to carers of the adults with ID living in UK group homes.
Carers ticked boxes about how long it took the person to fall asleep and how often they woke at night.
What they found
Over half of the adults woke in the night. One in four needed more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
Night waking was more likely if the person had epilepsy, drank caffeine after 6 p.m., wet the bed, or had little speech.
How this fits with other research
Lee et al. (2026) show the problem spreads to parents. They found mums and dads of kids with IDD get 20 % less sleep than other parents.
Johnson et al. (2021) add lighting to the story. Their older ID clients lived in dim rooms all day, which can make night sleep worse.
Hithersay et al. (2014) looked for carer-led fixes and found none that work yet. So we can spot the sleep loss, but we still have no proven carer-led fix.
Why it matters
If you support adults with ID, expect broken sleep as the norm, not the exception. Ask about epilepsy meds, evening cola, and incontinence products at every care review. Push for bright daylight activities and simple bedtime routines while we wait for tested carer-led sleep programs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two hundred and five people with intellectual disability, aged 18 years or over, and living in health- or social-services-managed community housing, completed sleep and behaviour questionnaires. An 85.7% return rate was achieved. Settling problems were present in 26.8% and night waking in 55.6% of the subjects. Parasomnias were present in 14% of subjects and 15% of the sample showed some features associated with sleep-related breathing problems. Factors associated with sleep-related problems included gender, aetiology of intellectual disability, epilepsy, treatment with antiepileptic medication, evening caffeine consumption, nocturnal urinary incontinence and ability to communicate. Significant sleep-related problems were demonstrated in this population; some of these problems might be avoided by simple measures.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1998 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.1998.00111.x