A sleep intervention study comparing effects of sleep restriction and fragmentation on sleep and vigilance and the need for recovery

• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112794
• Publication Date: 2019-12-23T17:18:59Z
• Authors: Naima Laharnar; Joanna Fatek; Maria Zemann; Martin Glos; Katharina Lederer; Alexander V. Suvorov; Artem V. Demin; Thomas Penzel; Ingo Fietze
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Sleep Wake Disorders; Polysomnography; Sleep, REM; Recovery of Function; Middle Aged; Body Mass Index; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Reaction Time; Humans; Sleep Deprivation; Sleep Stages; Arousal; Psychomotor Performance

Sleep deprivation is present not only in sleep disorders but also in numerous high demanding jobs and negatively affects cognition, performance and health. We developed a study design to distinguish the effects and need for recovery of two short-term disturbances - intermittent sleep fragmentation and partial sleep restriction.The randomized within-subjects design contained two weeks each with a baseline night, an intervention night of either sleep deprivation (5 h) or sleep fragmentation (light on every hour) and two undisturbed recovery nights. Twenty healthy male participants (mean age: 39.9 ± 7.4 years, mean BMI: 25.5 ± 2.2 kg/m²) underwent polysomnography, a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), and subjective questions on well-being and sleep efficiency.Percentage-wise, the restriction night had significant less wake times, less light sleep (stage 1), less REM sleep, but more deep sleep (stage 3) than the fragmentation night. The restriction week displayed a significant recovery effect regarding these sleep stages. The sleep fragmentation week presented a significant recovery effect regarding sleep onset times. PVT performance showed only a slight recovery effect after sleep restriction. Subjective sleep quality was reduced after both interventions with a significant recovery effect during restriction week only.Short-term sleep restriction presented as a stronger sleep disturbance than short-term intermittent sleep fragmentation, including a stronger need for recovery. Already a one night sleep deprivation had an effect beyond two recovery days. The PVT was not sensitive enough to reveal significant changes. Next, autonomic parameters as possible biomarkers will be investigated.