| Objective:Sleep deprivation has become a common phenomenon in contemporary society.This research investigated the effects of sleep deprivation on alertness,attention,and working memory.To explore the recovery of relevant cognitive levels after sleep supplement and to further compare the difference of cognitive recovery between increased morning naps and increased afternoon naps,in order to provide new ideas for improving cognitive behavior after sleep deprivation.Methods:The study was conducted from April 2022 to January 2023 by recruiting and finally completed statistical analysis of 30 healthy adults(age from18 to 28 years;male:13).They were randomly divided into morning napping group and afternoon napping group(morning napping group:15).Subjects were required to complete cognitive tests on consecutive 3 days from 7:30 to 8:30.Cognitive tests including Karolinska Sleepiness Scale(KSS),reaction speed test,Schulte grid test and N-BACK tests.The experiment officially started at 7:00 on the first day.And the cognitive tests were completed at a fixed time period.Next sleep deprivation was performed,and then the cognitive tests were performed again on the second morning.Subjects needed to complete morning naps(8:30～12:00)or afternoon naps(13:30～17:00)according to randomized groups.They were all required to complete recovery sleep at night.Final cognitive tests were completed on the third day.Behavioral performance was compared for relevant cognitive domain at different time points.Cognitive performance on the third day minus the second day was used to represent sleep recovery and to compare the difference between the morning napping group and the afternoon napping group.Results:Subjects had elevated Karolinska Sleepiness Scale scores,prolonged reaction time and increased time to complete the Schulte grid test after sleep deprivation.Karolinska Sleepiness Scale scores dropped and adverse effects on reaction speed and the Schulte grid test were improved after completing sleep supplement(P<0.001).No statistical difference was seen in 1-BACK correct rate after sleep deprivation(P=0.467)and after sleep supplement(P=0.117).No significant difference was seen in 2-BACK correct rate after sleep deprivation(P=0.244),and 2-BACK correct rate increased after sleep supplement(P=0.006).No difference was seen in the improvement of reaction speed(P=0.419),Schulte grid test(P=0.165),N-BACK tests(1-BACK,P=0.864;2-BACK,P=0.092),and KSS(P=0.532)between morning napping group and afternoon napping group.Conclusions:Acute sleep deprivation reduced subjective alertness as well as attention and has no significant effect on working memory.Increasing morning naps had a similar effect as increasing afternoon naps on cognitive improvement.Compared to the performance of sleep deprivation,subjective alertness,reaction speed,and sustained attention all significantly improved after 9.3 hours of sleep supplement,and working memory also benefited to some extent. |
