Sleep restriction may lead to disruption in physiological attention and reaction time

The objective of the present study was to investigate the mental attention (P300) and reaction time [visual (VRT) and auditory (ART)] among night watchmen, at subsequent; first (1st) day, fourth (4th) day and seventh (7th) day of restricted sleep period. After exclusion and inclusion criteria, the study was performed among 50 watchmen (age=18–35 years) (n=50) after providing written informed consent and divided into two group. Group I-(Normal sleep) (n=28) working in day time and used to have normal sleep in night (≥8h); Group II-(Restricted sleep) (n=22) - working in night time and used to have less sleep in night (≤3h). Statistical significance between the different groups was determined by the independent student ʻtʼ test and the significance level was fixed at p≤0.05. We observed that among all normal and restricted sleep watchmen there was not any significant variation in Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) score, VRT and ART, along with latency and amplitude of P300 on 1st day of restricted sleep. However at subsequent on 4th day and 7th day of restricted sleep, there was significant increase in (KSS)score, and prolongation of VRT and ART as well as alteration in latency and amplitude of P300 wave in restricted sleep watchmen when compare to normal sleep watchmen. The present finding concludes that loss of sleep has major impact in dynamic change in mental attention and reaction time among watchmen employed in night shift. Professional regulations and work sched...
Source: Sleep Science - Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: research