Adolescent health brief
Attention, Learning, and Arousal of Experimentally Sleep-restricted Adolescents in a Simulated Classroom

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Abstract

Purpose

To experimentally test whether chronic sleep restriction, which is common among adolescents, is causally related to poor learning, inattentive behaviors, and diminished arousal in a classroom-like situation.

Methods

Sixteen healthy adolescents underwent a sleep manipulation that included, in counterbalanced order, five consecutive nights of sleep deprivation (6½ hours in bed) versus five nights of healthy sleep duration (10 hours in bed). At the end of each condition, participants viewed educational films and took related quizzes in a simulated classroom. Eight participants also underwent video and electroencephalography monitoring to assess levels of inattentive behaviors and arousal, respectively.

Results

As compared with the healthy sleep condition, sleep-deprived participants had lower quiz scores (p = .05), more inattentive behaviors (p < .05), and lower arousal (p = .08).

Conclusions

These pilot data complement previous correlational reports by showing that chronic sleep restriction during adolescence can cause inattention, diminished learning, and lowered arousal in a simulated classroom.

Section snippets

Methods

The experimental sleep protocol and sample are detailed elsewhere [4] and were approved by the local Institutional Review Board. Twenty 13.9–16.9-year-old participants were recruited through mass e-mail and screened through parent-report for sleep disorders (in part using the Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire [6]); a history of neurological illness or injury; and current illness, injury, or medication known to affect sleep or daytime functioning. Throughout the 3-week experiment, prescribed wake

Results and Discussion

Complete data were available for all eight participants who underwent video/EEG monitoring. Of the other 12, one dropped out and quiz data for three were lost because of examiner error, leaving n = 16 for quiz scores. As shown in Table 1, these subsets were similar to each other and showed excellent adherence to the sleep protocol.

A repeated-measures general linear model examined the effect of the sleep manipulation on quiz scores, using intelligence as a covariate. Intelligence was estimated

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by NIH grants K23HL075369 and M01RR08084. Drs. Beebe, Rose, and Amin each declare that they do not have a conflicting personal, financial, or professional interest with respect to this paper.

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