NEUROBEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF PARTIAL SLEEP DEPRIVATION

睡眠在维持健康、最佳清醒功能方面的作用受到疾病、衰老、疼痛、抑郁和生活方式造成的睡眠损失的影响。数以百万计的人由于医疗或生活方式的原因而经历的最普遍的睡眠不足形式是部分睡眠剥夺(PSD)。这个项目试图确定慢性PSD如何影响对嗜睡敏感的清醒神经行为功能。一个基本的悬而未决的问题是慢性PSD的数量和时间，在这种情况下，警觉性和清醒功能会受到影响。这项研究的具体目的是确定慢性睡眠限制造成的缺陷的性质和时间进程(跨越几小时和几天)，以及它们在多大程度上反映了睡眠的动态平衡驱动和内源性昼夜节律起搏器之间的相互作用。该项目涉及首次系统的实验室控制实验，研究14天的PSD对神经行为和生理功能的影响。将进行一项随机对照试验，其中将三种PSD剂量(每天4小时、6小时、8小时)放置在三个不同的昼夜节律阶段(卧床时间偏移在0330小时、1130小时、1930小时)，从而产生九种情况，每一种情况都暴露了清醒神经行为评估的不同昼夜周期范围。共有180名健康成年人(n=20)将在实验室接受为期20天的研究，在此期间，他们将接受14天的睡眠限制。将对关键结果变量进行评估，包括精神运动警觉缺失、认知功能、工作记忆、脑电警觉性、主观嗜睡和情绪。这项研究的结果将就当前高度理论和应用关注的问题提供急需的信息，包括与当前公共政策需要特别相关的数据，这些数据涉及安全敏感职业的人员每个工作日应有多少小时睡眠，以及他们应被允许连续工作的天数。

The role of sleep in maintaining healthy, optimal waking functions, is compromised by sleep loss from illness, aging, pain, depression, and life-style. The single most pervasive form of sleep loss experienced by millions of persons for either medical or lifestyle reasons is partial sleep deprivation (PSD). This project seeks to determine how waking neurobehavioral functions sensitive to sleepiness are affected by chronic PSD. A basic unresolved question is the amount and timing of chronic PSD at which alertness and waking function are compromised. This research is specifically aimed at establishing the nature and time course (across hours and days) of deficits engendered by chronic sleep restriction, and the extent to which they reflect an interaction between the homeostatic drive for sleep and the endogenous circadian pacemaker. The project involves the first systematic laboratory controlled experiments on the effects of 14 days of PSD on neurobehavioral and physiological functions. A randomized controlled trial will be performed in which three PSD dosages (4hr, 6 hr, 8 hr, per day) are placed at three different circadian phases (time-in-bed offset at 0330hr, 1130hr, 1930hr), thereby yielding nine conditions, each of which exposes a different range of the circadian cycle to waking neurobehavioral assessment. A total of 180 healthy adults will be studied (n=20 per condition) in the laboratory for 20 days each, during which time they will undergo 14 days of sleep restriction. Assessments will be made of key outcome variables including psychomotor vigilance lapses, cognitive functions, working memory, EEG alertness, subjective sleepiness, and mood. The results of this research will provide much-needed information on current issues of intense theoretical and applied concern including particular relevance to current public policy needs for data regarding the number of hours personnel in safety-sensitive occupations should have available each work day for sleep, and the number of consecutive days they should be allowed to work.