Cited by 261Stress Responses and CortisolSleep and Work-Related FatigueSleep and Wakefulness Research

Sleep deprivation potentiates HPA axis stress reactivity in healthy adults.

Minkel, Jared, Moreta, Marisa, Muto, Julianne, Htaik, Oo, Jones, Christopher, Basner, Mathias, Dinges, David·2014·Health Psychology

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This article describes an experiment that was designed to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on physiological stress responses in healthy adults. METHOD: Twenty-six participants, ages 22-49, completed a 3-night laboratory experiment with randomization to one night of sleep-deprivation or a normal-sleep control condition. After a night of baseline sleep, 12 participants were sleep deprived and 14 were not. After the sleep manipulation, each participant completed the Trier Social Stress Test, a task that requires delivering a speech and performing difficult arithmetic in front of a stern, three-person panel. The stressor was administered from 5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. and saliva samples were collected 20 and 5 min before (baseline) and 5, 20, and 40 min after the stressor. Samples were assayed for cortisol (a biomarker for the HPA axis) and alpha-amylase (a putative biomarker for the sympatho-adrenal medullar system). RESULTS: Sleep deprivation was associated with higher cortisol levels at baseline (p < .0001) and an amplified cortisol response to the stressor relative to control participants (pinteraction = 0.0039). Alpha-amylase showed a significant main effect of the stressor (p = .0026), but there was no effect of sleep loss at baseline or in response to the stressor. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep deprivation is associated with both elevated resting cortisol release and with an exaggerated cortisol response to a stressor indicative of elevated HPA axis responses in healthy adults. Individual differences in the magnitude of this response may represent a risk factor for psychological and physical health consequences associated with heightened cortisol exposure.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0034219

Cites

24 of 24 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A recent human study described an exaggerated cortisol response to a complex psychosocial stressor presented in the late afternoon following one night of total sleep deprivation.

    “A recent human study has described an exaggerated cortisol response to a complex psychosocial stressor presented in the late afternoon following one night of total sleep deprivation.30”
  • A recent study described an exaggerated cortisol response to a complex psychosocial stressor presented in the late afternoon following one night of total sleep deprivation.

    “a recent study has described an exaggerated cortisol response to a complex psychosocial stressor presented in the late afternoon following one night of total sleep deprivation.30”
  • Acute total sleep deprivation in the laboratory increases stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol.

    “In humans, acute total sleep deprivation in the laboratory increases levels of stress hormones, such as catecholamines and cortisol (e.g., refs.20 and 21).”
  • Humans are more responsive to the effects of psychological stress when sleep-deprived compared to when well-rested.

    “For instance, there is some evidence that humans are more responsive to the effects of psychological stress when sleepdeprived compared to when they are well-rested (Cedernaes et al., 2015b;Minkel et al., 2014).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Minkel, J., Moreta, M., Muto, J., Htaik, O., Jones, C., Basner, M., & Dinges, D.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Venue
Health Psychology
Published
2014
Volume
33
Issue
11
Pages
1430-1434
ISSN
  • 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
  • 1930-7810
OpenAlex
W2115078258
Cited by
261
References
23
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16
FWCI
6.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • NASA (NCC 9-58)
  • Sponsor name not included (F31 MH079604)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords
sleep deprivation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, stress reactivity, cortisol, alpha-amylase, Trier Social Stress Test, physiological stress response, individual differences, healthy adults
MeSH terms
Adult, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Male, Middle Aged, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Saliva, Sleep Deprivation, Stress, Physiological, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review