The effect of one night's sleep loss on mood and memory in normal subjects

Effects of Game Weekly Frequency on Subjective Training Load, Wellness, and Injury Rate in Male Elite Soccer Players

To compare the effects of playing one or two games per week on subjective perceived exertion (RPE) and (RPE-based) training load, monotony index, sleep, stress, fatigue, and muscle soreness (Hooper index), total mood disturbance, and injury rate in elite soccer players. Fourteen males from a first-division soccer club (age: 24.42 ± 4.80 years) competed in two games per week for six weeks and one game per week for twelve weeks (a total of 24 games). Paired t-tests and non-parametric Wilcoxon signed ranks evaluated the significance of the differences (p < 0.05). The main findings were that RPE was significantly larger when playing two games per week compared with one game. However, subject total and mean training load, mood disturbance, monotony, and subjective perception of sleep, stress, fatigue, muscle soreness monitoring (Hooper index), and the number of injuries were not different. The findings suggested that competing in two matches per week does not negatively influence injury rate and players’ perceptions of training load or wellness, even though players perceive two games per week as more physically demanding compared with one game per week.

Examining the Causal Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Emotion Regulation and Its Neural Mechanisms

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is a strategy used to regulate emotions that is thought to be effective but effortful, relying on higher-order cognitive control systems to engage in active regulation. Sleep deprivation is believed to impair the functioning of these control systems, suggesting that it may impede the ability to implement CR effectively. This study tested the causal effects of sleep deprivation on emotional reactivity and the neurobiological systems underlying CR. We employed a within-subject crossover design in which participants underwent fMRI scanning twice, once when fully rested and once after a night of total sleep deprivation. During scans, participants passively viewed or used CR to down-regulate their emotional response to negative and neutral images. Contrary to hypotheses, both self-reported negative affect ratings and neural responses to the images indicated no difference in the way participants implemented CR when sleep deprived and when fully rested. Meanwhile, neural regions that showed distinct reactivity responses to negative relative to neutral images lost this specificity under deprived conditions. Negative affect ratings and heart rate deceleration, a physiological response typically evoked by aversive pictures, exhibited a similar blunting. Together, these results suggest that, although sleep deprivation may reduce the discrimination between emotional reactivity responses to negative and neutral stimuli, it does not impact CR the way it is presently studied.

Sleep Loss and Affective Functioning: More Than Just Mood

Empirical evidence supports an intimate link between sleep and affective functioning. While the bidirectional relationship between sleep duration and mood is well documented, limited research targets other aspects of affective functioning, such as emotion and emotion regulation, or considers their interrelationships. The present review summarizes research examining the relationship between sleep and emotion, emotion regulation, and mood, and presents a theoretical model representing the relationships between these constructs. Disruptions to sleep and mood may trigger and maintain a negative cascade, leading to more entrenched sleep problems and psychopathology. Given that insufficient sleep is a widespread phenomenon, understanding the interrelationships between sleep and affective functioning has implications for both public health and clinical practice.

A test of the effects of acute sleep deprivation on general and specific self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms: an experimental extension

Evidence indicates acute sleep deprivation affects negative mood states. The present study experimentally tested the effects of acute sleep deprivation on self-reported symptoms of state anxiety and depression as well as general distress among 88 physically and psychologically healthy adults. As hypothesized, the effects of acute sleep deprivation increased state anxiety and depression, as well as general distress, relative to a normal night of sleep control condition. Based on the tripartite model of anxiety and depression, these findings replicate and extend prior research by suggesting sleep deprivation among individuals without current Axis I disorders increases both state symptoms of anxiety and depression specifically, and general distress more broadly. Extending this work to clinical samples and prospectively testing mechanisms underlying these effects are important future directions in this area of research.

Self-help interventions for depressive disorders and depressive symptoms: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Research suggests that depressive disorders exist on a continuum, with subthreshold symptoms causing considerable population burden and increasing individual risk of developing major depressive disorder. An alternative strategy to professional treatment of subthreshold depression is population promotion of effective self-help interventions that can be easily applied by an individual without professional guidance. The evidence for self-help interventions for depressive symptoms is reviewed in the present work, with the aim of identifying promising interventions that could inform future health promotion campaigns or stimulate further research.

METHODS

A literature search for randomised controlled trials investigating self-help interventions for depressive disorders or depressive symptoms was performed using PubMed, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Reference lists and citations of included studies were also checked. Studies were grouped into those involving participants with depressive disorders or a high level of depressive symptoms, or non-clinically depressed participants not selected for depression. A number of exclusion criteria were applied, including trials with small sample sizes and where the intervention was adjunctive to antidepressants or psychotherapy.

RESULTS

The majority of interventions searched had no relevant evidence to review. Of the 38 interventions reviewed, the ones with the best evidence of efficacy in depressive disorders were S-adenosylmethionine, St John's wort, bibliotherapy, computerised interventions, distraction, relaxation training, exercise, pleasant activities, sleep deprivation, and light therapy. A number of other interventions showed promise but had received less research attention. Research in non-clinical samples indicated immediate beneficial effects on depressed mood for distraction, exercise, humour, music, negative air ionisation, and singing; while potential for helpful longer-term effects was found for autogenic training, light therapy, omega 3 fatty acids, pets, and prayer. Many of the trials were poor quality and may not generalize to self-help without professional guidance.

CONCLUSION

A number of self-help interventions have promising evidence for reducing subthreshold depressive symptoms. Other forms of evidence such as expert consensus may be more appropriate for interventions that are not feasible to evaluate in randomised controlled trials. There needs to be evaluation of whether promotion to the public of effective self-help strategies for subthreshold depressive symptoms could delay or prevent onset of depressive illness, reduce functional impairment, and prevent progression to other undesirable outcomes such as harmful use of substances.

Qualitative similarities in cognitive impairment associated with 24 h of sustained wakefulness and a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%

Previous studies that have quantified fatigue-related cognitive impairment as blood alcohol concentration (BAC) equivalents have been limited by two issues: the effect of practice on tests of cognition and, more importantly, the statistic used to quantify change in cognitive performance. The current study addressed these issues by adopting an ABACA design, which allowed for the adequate control of practice effects, and by using effect size metrics, which enabled direct comparisons to be made in performance impairments as a result of fatigue (i.e. sustained wakefulness of 24 h) and alcohol (i.e. BAC of 0.05%). Cognitive performance under the fatigue and alcohol conditions required the use of the CogState battery. It was demonstrated that fatigue caused greater impairment than alcohol on the speed of continuous attention and memory and learning, and on the accuracy of complex matching. Alcohol was more detrimental than fatigue only on the accuracy of memory and learning. Performances on the remaining tasks were the same for both the fatigue and alcohol conditions. These differences and similarities in performance impairment are discussed emphasizing the deleterious cognitive effects of relatively short periods of sustained wakefulness.

The role of activation in the effect of total sleep deprivation on depressed mood

The present investigation analyzes if the effect of Total Sleep Deprivation (TSD) on depressive mood in normal subjects is related to participants' activation levels. Reaction time (RT), subjective sleepiness, and depressive mood were assessed among 48 normal subjects who were subjected to 60 h of TSD. Subjects were divided into groups based on his/her depressive mood changes following TSD: subjects with worse response (n = 11), subjects with better response (n = 12), and intermediate group (n = 25). We sought to determine if RT and subjective sleepiness were related systematically to depressive mood changes following TSD. TSD produces a general reduction in activation (i.e., a monotonic increase in RT and subjective sleepiness) modulated by circadian oscillations. Baseline activation (RT) was confirmed partially as a predictor of participants' response to TSD. Subjects with high levels of activation (lower RTs at the baseline) experienced a better response (greater reductions in depressive mood) following TSD. There was no relationship between pre-treatment subjective sleepiness levels and the TSD effect on depressive mood. The results partially support the role of the activation level as a differential moderator of TSD effects on depressive mood in normal subjects.

The effect of sleep deprivation on memory and psychomotor function in healthy volunteers

Benzodiazepines and other psychotropic drugs have been implicated in the production of memory deficits. The mechanism is unclear, but both a distinct pharmacological action and a non-specific sedative effect have been suggested as being causal or contributory. These two postulated mechanisms of action may be examined separately by using sleep deprivation as a method of non-pharmacological sedation. We measured psychomotor and memory functions in eight sleep-deprived healthy volunteers and eight controls. There was both subjective and objective evidence of sedation, but memory function was not affected. These findings support the view that the effect on memory of psychotropic drugs is principally caused by a direct amnestic effect rather than by drug-induced sedation. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A telephone intervention to reduce fatigue and symptom distress in mothers with difficult infants in the community

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a telephone intervention to reduce fatigue and the resulting symptom distress of mothers in Iceland who reported having a behaviourally difficult infant of 2-3 months of age. A sample of 78 mothers who reached distress criteria of depressive symptoms and parental stress was selected and randomly allocated in a controlled experimental study. In a brief intervention both maternal distress and infant difficulty were discussed. Results indicate a significant (P < 0.001) intervention effect on fatigue and its side-effects. It is concluded that intervention by telephone can be effective with fatigued mothers caring for a difficult infant.

Adverse changes in mood and cognitive performance of house officers after night duty

The effects of long hours of work by junior doctors are the subject of growing concern. Experimental investigations of the effects of night duty on young doctors are few and have given inconclusive results. To measure the effects of long hours of work and reduced sleep on cognitive performance and mood 20 house officers (14 men and six women; mean age 25, range 24-35) were examined for 35 minutes in one session towards the end of a normal working day and in a second session at the same time after working for up to 31 continuous hours with reduced sleep. The order of the sessions was counterbalanced across the subjects. Each session comprised a series of cognitive tests: choice reaction time, vigilance reaction time, and haptic sorting tests and completion of a profile of mood states and a general questionnaire. After night duty there was a significant slowing in cognitive processing together with a decline in reaction times in the vigilance test. Loss of sleep contributed only to increased variability in the choice reaction time. Significant deleterious changes in mood after night duty occurred in all the mood scales after night duty. Continuous working may adversely affect the cognitive function and mood to the detriment of the welfare of doctors and their patients.

The topology of performance curves during 72 hours of sleep loss: a memory and search task

Three levels of working memory load of a visual search (Memory and Search) task were tested in a 72-hour sleep deprivation paradigm. General performance and accuracy decrease over time with monotonic and rhythmic components. The signal detection discriminability index, d', decreases monotonically with rhythmic variations. The index of response bias, β, shows no monotonic trend, but significant circadian rhythmicity. The extent of the monotonic and rhythmic changes in accuracy and in d’ is directly related to the level of working memory load. The amplitude of the circadian component of accuracy and d’ is enhanced for the higher levels of working memory load. The implication of potentiated circadian rhythmicity as a function of cumulative sleep loss is discussed.

Phase advance of the circadian sleep-wake cycle as an antidepressant

Sleep in depressed patients resembles sleep in normal subjects whose circadian rhythms of temperature and rapid-eye-movement sleep are phase-advanced (shifted earlier) relative to their sleep schedules. If this analogy is relevant to the pathophysiology of depressive illness, advancing the time of sleep and awakening should temporarily compensate for the abnormal timing of depressed patients' circadian rhythms. Four of seven manic-depressive patients studied longitudinally spontaneously advanced their times of awakening (activity onset) as they emerged from the depressive phase of their illness. In a phase-shift experiment, a depressed manic-depressive woman was twice brought out of depression for 2 weeks by advancing her sleep period so that she went to sleep and arose 6 hours earlier than usual. The antidepressant effect of the procedure was temporary and similar in duration to circadian desynchronization induced by jet lag in healthy subjects. This result supports the hypothesis that abnormalities of sleep patterns in some types of depression are due to abnormal internal phase relationships of circadian rhythms.