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. 2022 Oct 25;21(2):165-173.
doi: 10.1007/s41105-022-00428-y. eCollection 2023 Apr.

One night of 10-h sleep restores vigilance after total sleep deprivation: the role of delta and theta power during recovery sleep

Chao Hao  1   2 , Mingzhu Li  1   2 , Qian Ning  1   2 , Ning Ma  1   2
Affiliations

One night of 10-h sleep restores vigilance after total sleep deprivation: the role of delta and theta power during recovery sleep

Chao Hao et al. Sleep Biol Rhythms. .

Abstract

A series of studies have demonstrated that impaired vigilance performance caused by total sleep deprivation could restore to baseline when recovery sleep is longer than the habitual sleep. However, it is unclear which factors on the recovery night affected the restoration of vigilance performance impaired by sleep deprivation. 22 participant's sleep electroencephalograms were recorded with polysomnography in 8-h baseline sleep and one-night 10-h recovery sleep following 36-h sleep deprivation. Participants completed a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task and subjective ratings after baseline and recovery sleep the following day. Objective vigilance and subjective ratings were impaired by sleep deprivation and recovered to baseline after one-night 10-h recovery sleep. Compared with baseline sleep, sleep depth increased with enhanced delta and theta power density, and sleep duration was also prolonged during recovery sleep. The vigilance performance difference between recovery and baseline sleep was taken as a behavioral index of the restoration of vigilance. The restoration of vigilance was correlated with the delta and theta power density of stage N3 in the frontal and central region during the recovery sleep. These findings indicated that one-night 10-h recovery sleep could restore the impaired objective vigilance and subjective ratings caused by sleep deprivation. The recuperative effect of vigilance relies on individual differences in sleep intensity. Individuals with higher sleep intensity in recovery sleep obtained better vigilance recovery.

Keywords: Delta and theta power; Recovery sleep; Stage N3; Vigilance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors report no conflict of financial or academic interest. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study protocol. Sleep EEGs were recorded with PSG in 8-h baseline sleep and one-night 10-h recovery sleep following 36-h sleep deprivation. Baseline sleep and recovery sleep were counterbalanced with participants. Baseline sleep was performed 3 weeks after completing recovery sleep. However, recovery sleep was performed 1 week after completing baseline sleep. Participants completed a 10-min PVT and subjective ratings after baseline and recovery sleep the following day
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A Delta power values of stage N3 in frontal, central, and occipital regions for BS and RS; B Theta power values of stage N3 in frontal, central, and occipital regions for BS and RS
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A Correlation analyses between delta power density in stage N3 of RS and PVT performance change between BS and RS in the frontal region. B Correlation analyses between delta power density in stage N3 of RS and PVT performance change between BS and RS in the central region. ***p < 0.001
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A Correlation analyses between theta power density in stage N3 of RS and PVT performance change between BS and RS in the frontal region. B Correlation analyses between theta power density in stage N3 of RS and PVT performance change between BS and RS in the central region. ***p < 0.001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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