EAPSI:The Effects of Restricting and Extending Sleep on Adolescent Cognitive Function

Bennion Kelly A, Brookline MA

Investigators

Abstract

Although it has long been known that sleep is critical for healthy functioning, chronic sleep restriction (as defined by less than 7 hours of nightly sleep) is a worldwide public health concern. This is particularly important for adolescents, who experience increased daytime sleepiness in response to puberty and a phase delay in circadian rhythms. The proposed study involves a two-week protocol investigating the effects of sleep restriction (5 hours) and sleep extension (9 hours) on sleepiness levels, mood, vigilance, executive function, immediate and long-term memory, and false memory, in 15-19 year-old females at the Nanyang Girls Boarding School in Singapore. Understanding how sleep restriction affects memory performance and cognitive function is important for students and educators everywhere, and is especially critical in Singapore, where chronic short sleep among adolescents is especially prevalent. As such, this project will be conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Chee, an expert in the cognitive neuroscience of sleep, at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School. During the first three nights, participants will have a 9-hour baseline sleep opportunity. During the following seven nights, participants will be randomized into a sleep restriction (5 hours) or sleep extension (9 hours) condition, during which their nocturnal sleep will be monitored by polysomnography on three nights. Relative to baseline performance, sleep restriction is expected to result in greater self-reported sleepiness, poorer cognitive and scholastic performance, negative mood, and an increased tendency toward risky behavior. Regarding memory in particular, it is hypothesized that participants in the sleep restriction group relative to the sleep extension group will show deficits in long-term memory and an increase in susceptibility to false memory. This project will not only elucidate the effects of sleep on adolescents? cognitive function, but also raise awareness of sleep restriction as a global public health concern. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the National Research Foundation of Singapore.