Time course of sleep inertia dissipation in human performance and alertness
- PMID: 10188130
- DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.1999.00128.x
Time course of sleep inertia dissipation in human performance and alertness
Abstract
Alertness and performance on a wide variety of tasks are impaired immediately upon waking from sleep due to sleep inertia, which has been found to dissipate in an asymptotic manner following waketime. It has been suggested that behavioural or environmental factors, as well as sleep stage at awakening, may affect the severity of sleep inertia. In order to determine the time course of sleep inertia dissipation under normal entrained conditions, subjective alertness and cognitive throughput were measured during the first 4 h after habitual waketime from a full 8-h sleep episode on 3 consecutive days. We investigated whether this time course was affected by either sleep stage at awakening or behavioural/environmental factors. Sleep inertia dissipated in an asymptotic manner and took 2-4 h to near the asymptote. Saturating exponential functions fitted the sleep inertia data well, with time constants of 0.67 h for subjective alertness and 1.17 h for cognitive performance. Most awakenings occurred out of stage rapid eye movement (REM), 2 or 1 sleep, and no effect of sleep stage at awakening on either the severity of sleep inertia or the time course of its dissipation could be detected. Subjective alertness and cognitive throughput were significantly impaired upon awakening regardless of whether subjects got out of bed, ate breakfast, showered and were exposed to ordinary indoor room light (approximately 150 lux) or whether subjects participated in a constant routine (CR) protocol in which they remained in bed, ate small hourly snacks and were exposed to very dim light (10-15 lux). These findings allow for the refinement of models of alertness and performance, and have important implications for the scheduling of work immediately upon awakening in many occupational settings.
Similar articles
-
Dose-response relationship between sleep duration and human psychomotor vigilance and subjective alertness.Sleep. 1999 Mar 15;22(2):171-9. doi: 10.1093/sleep/22.2.171. Sleep. 1999. PMID: 10201061
-
Interactive mathematical models of subjective alertness and cognitive throughput in humans.J Biol Rhythms. 1999 Dec;14(6):588-97. doi: 10.1177/074873099129000920. J Biol Rhythms. 1999. PMID: 10643756 Review.
-
The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation.Sleep. 2003 Mar 15;26(2):117-26. doi: 10.1093/sleep/26.2.117. Sleep. 2003. PMID: 12683469 Clinical Trial.
-
EEG topography during sleep inertia upon awakening after a period of increased homeostatic sleep pressure.Sleep Med. 2015 Jul;16(7):883-90. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2015.03.009. Epub 2015 Apr 14. Sleep Med. 2015. PMID: 26004680
-
Circadian and sleep episode duration influences on cognitive performance following the process of awakening.Int Rev Neurobiol. 2010;93:129-51. doi: 10.1016/S0074-7742(10)93006-7. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2010. PMID: 20970004 Review.
Cited by
-
The Efficacy of a Multimodal Bedroom-Based 'Smart' Alarm System on Mitigating the Effects of Sleep Inertia.Clocks Sleep. 2024 Mar 18;6(1):183-199. doi: 10.3390/clockssleep6010013. Clocks Sleep. 2024. PMID: 38534801 Free PMC article.
-
Chronodisruption and Gut Microbiota: Triggering Glycemic Imbalance in People with Type 2 Diabetes.Nutrients. 2024 Feb 23;16(5):616. doi: 10.3390/nu16050616. Nutrients. 2024. PMID: 38474745 Free PMC article. Review.
-
A preliminary framework for managing sleep inertia in occupational settings.Sleep Adv. 2023 Nov 18;4(1):zpad050. doi: 10.1093/sleepadvances/zpad050. eCollection 2023. Sleep Adv. 2023. PMID: 38046222 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Predicting neurobehavioral performance of resident physicians in a Randomized Order Safety Trial Evaluating Resident-Physician Schedules (ROSTERS).Sleep Health. 2024 Feb;10(1S):S25-S33. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2023.10.018. Epub 2023 Nov 25. Sleep Health. 2024. PMID: 38007304
-
Reconfigurations in brain networks upon awakening from slow wave sleep: Interventions and implications in neural communication.Netw Neurosci. 2023 Jan 1;7(1):102-121. doi: 10.1162/netn_a_00272. eCollection 2023. Netw Neurosci. 2023. PMID: 37334002 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Research Materials