China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Consciousness, Sleep and Hypnosis, Meditation, and Psychoactive Drugs
Published in Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay, Understanding Psychology for Medicine and Nursing, 2019
Researchers found that sleep deprivation for one night led to episodes of sleep lasting only a few seconds (microsleeps) that occur during wakefulness among research subjects. Both total and partial sleep deprivation induce adverse changes in cognitive performance. First and foremost, total sleep deprivation impairs attention and working memory, long-term memory, and decision-making. Partial sleep deprivation is found to influence attention, especially vigilance (Alhola & Polo-Kantola, 2007). Sleeping as little as 4 hours per night produces diminished concentration, vigilance, reaction time, and memory skills, and reduces the ability to gauge risks. It also reduces motor skills, including driving skills, producing a greater risk of accidents. As sleep restriction continues, the abilities and reaction time are greatly diminished (Choudhary, Kishanrao, Dadarao Dhanvijay, & Alam, 2016). Mood, especially negative mood, becomes increased, especially feelings of fatigue, and loss of vigor (Durmer & Dinges, 2005). Metabolic and hormonal disruptions occur, including harmful changes in levels of stress hormones (Van Cauter, 2005). The immune system’s effectiveness is diminished by sleep deprivation, making the person more susceptible to colds and infections (Motivala & Irwin, 2007). When infections set in, we typically sleep more, boosting our immune cells. No remarkable changes were observed in heart and breathing rates, blood pressure, skin conduction, body temperature, EMG or EEG, even when sleep deprivation continues for up to 200 hours (Pinel, 1993).
Individual resilience
Published in Tim Marsh, Louise Ward, Organised Wellbeing, 2018
A simple example: we know we should strive to ‘drive to the distance’ to maximise anticipation and reaction time and switch on fully while undertaking the highly dangerous task that is driving, but sometimes we simply tail the car in front and arrive home with almost no memory of the journey. This is because though only 2% of our body weight, our brains typically take up 20% of our energy, so it’ll of course switch to energy-saving mode whenever it can. This can include microsleeps while we are driving, and the data from recent studies as to the frequency of such events are truly frightening.
The Realpolitik of Narcolepsy and Other Disorders with Impaired Alertness
Published in Meeta Goswami, Charles P. Pollak, Felissa L. Cohen, Michael J. Thorpy, Neil B. Kavey, Austin H. Kutscher, Jill C. Crabtree, Psychosocial Aspects of Narcolepsy, 2015
Superimposed on the normal, two-peak pattern of sleep vulnerability are the effects of two separate but interacting factors: (a) sleep deprivation, such as that occurring during accommodation to an unusual work schedule (Carskadon and Dement 1981) and (b) sleep disruption, such as that resulting from a sleep disorder (Carskadon, Brown and Dement 1982). Data from our field indicate that the effects of such sleep loss are cumulative. Thus, people who determine public policy and are responsible for risk management must appreciate that the danger of an error due to sudden overwhelming sleepiness increases progressively with continued sleep loss or "sleep debt." Most individuals cope with significant sleep debt by physical activity and dietary stimulants. Coping mechanisms can temporarily make an individual completely unaware of a dangerous accumulated sleep loss. But when defenses are "let down," such as during a period requiring immobility, overwhelming sleepiness ensues. Such unawareness may account for seemingly incomprehensible instances in which individuals have permitted themselves to sleep in circumstances that cause great hazard for themselves and others. Thus, the more sleep is disturbed or reduced, for whatever reason, the more likely an individual will inadvertently slip into sleep. There is laboratory evidence to suggest that even brief episodes of sleep, called "microsleeps," produce inattention, forgetfulness, and performance lapses, particularly during the two zones of vulnerability within the 24-hour cycle (Dinges 1988).
Effects of total sleep deprivation on execution lapses during vigilance tasks
Published in Chronobiology International, 2022
Jingqiang Li, Yanru Zhou, Xining Zhang, Qingfu Wang, Lu Zhang
Furthermore, most of the available research focuses on attention lapses and microsleep (Buckley et al. 2016; Davidson et al. 2007; Peiris et al. 2011; Stojanoski et al. 2018). One study found that attention lapses were more likely to occur in dual tasks, while microsleep occurred in low-complexity tracking tasks (Buckley et al. 2016). The study validated the resource-depletion theory, which posits that cognitive resources are finite (Hoffman et al. 1998) and that lapses occur when task demands are higher than the available resources. It also corroborates the mindlessness hypothesis, according to which lapses are the result of an unconscious shift in or withdrawal of attention (Robertson et al. 1997; Smallwood and Schooler 2006). There is also a strong link between mindlessness and arousal – for example, lapses and wandering are more likely to occur in tasks that are monotonous, automated, and dependent on repetitive exogenous stimuli (Helton et al. 2011). However, there is a lack of evidence on executive function, and the lapses in behavioral characteristics during prolonged waking states are unclear.
Combined effects of time-of-day and simulated military operational stress on perception-action coupling performance
Published in Chronobiology International, 2022
Alice D. LaGoy, Aaron M. Sinnott, Shawn R. Eagle, Meaghan E. Beckner, William R. Conkright, Felix Proessl, Justin Williams, Michael N. Dretsch, Shawn D. Flanagan, Bradley C. Nindl, Mita Lovalekar, Anne Germain, Fabio Ferrarelli, Christopher Connaboy
Affordance perception accuracy also deteriorated due to the combined effects of time-of-day and SMOS exposure. Importantly, both decrements in attention (lapses) and affordance judgment (incorrect responses) contributed to the overall reduction in ACC. Increased attentional lapses due to time-of-day, operational stress exposure and restricted sleep have been well described (Hudson et al. 2020; Lieberman et al. 2006; Van Dongen and Dinges 2005). Therefore, the high number of lapses found during PACT, a 15-minute task requiring constant engagement, was expected. Microsleeps, brief periods of sleep that may occur locally due to task-specific fatigue, can lead to brief unresponsive periods (lapses), and microsleeps can increase with increased sleep pressure and task repetition (Hudson et al. 2020; Nir et al. 2017). Increased incorrect responses may also contribute to deficits in operational readiness. Making inaccurate affordance judgements could lead individuals to attempt actions that are not possible or to not attempt actions that are, compromising performance and safety (Cordovil et al. 2015). That these decrements in accuracy occurred despite a slowing of RT also highlights that a speed-accuracy trade-off was insufficient to maintain perception-action coupling performance.
Sleep-Related Practices, Behaviors, and Sleep-Related Difficulties in Deployed Active-Duty Service Members Performing Security Duties
Published in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2020
Panagiotis Matsangas, Nita Lewis Shattuck, Arlene Saitzyk
Microsleeps are brief sleep-like events with complete failure to respond to a task, which may be accompanied by slow eye-closures, and head nodding (Poudel, Innes, Bones, Watts, & Jones, 2014). These findings regarding involuntary dozing off and behavioral microsleeps show that sleep deprivation will eventually exact its toll, even from the most dedicated individuals. Given this background, we postulate that the actual occurrence of involuntary sleep while on duty may be higher than reported in our study for two reasons. First, there is a possible bias of ADSMs not reporting that they experienced sleep episodes while on duty. Second, there may be an issue in the way the survey item was worded, “having fallen asleep,” while on duty. As Torsvall and colleagues showed, however, involuntary short naps are experienced more like “dozing off” rather than actual naps (Torsvall et al., 1989).