• Mia Louca and Michelle A Short.
• Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide South Australia, Australia.
• Sleep. 2014 Nov 1;37(11):1799-807.

Study ObjectivesTo investigate the effects of one night's sleep deprivation on neurobehavioral functioning in adolescents.DesignParticipants completed a neurobehavioral test battery measuring sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, sleepiness, and fatigue every 2 h during wakefulness. Baseline performance (defined as those test bouts between 09:00 and 19:00 on days 2 and 3, following two 10-h sleep opportunities) were compared to performance at the same clock time the day following total sleep deprivation.SettingThe sleep laboratory at the Centre for Sleep Research.ParticipantsTwelve healthy adolescents (6 male), aged 14-18 years (mean = 16.17, standard deviation = 0.83).Measurements And ResultsSustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, and subjective sleepiness were all significantly worse following one night without sleep than following 10-h sleep opportunities (all main effects of day, P < 0.05). Sleep deprivation led to increased variability on objective performance measures. There were between-subjects differences in response to sleep loss that were task-specific, suggesting that adolescents may not only vary in terms of the degree to which they are affected by sleep loss but also the domains in which they are affected.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that one night of total sleep deprivation has significant deleterious effects upon neurobehavioral performance and subjective sleepiness. These factors impair daytime functioning in adolescents, leaving them at greater risk of poor academic and social functioning and accidents and injuries.

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