Can sleep deprivation studies explain why human adults sleep?
Abstract
Purpose of review This review will concentrate on the consequences of sleep deprivation in adult humans. These findings form a paradigm that serves to demonstrate many of the critical functions of the sleep states. Recent findings The drive to obtain food, water, and sleep constitutes important vegetative appetites throughout the animal kingdom. Unlike nutrition and hydration, the reasons for sleep have largely remained speculative. When adult humans are nonspecifically sleep-deprived, systemic effects may include defects in cognition, vigilance, emotional stability, risk-taking, and, possibly, moral reasoning. Appetite (for foodstuffs) increases and glucose intolerance may ensue. Procedural, declarative, and emotional memory are affected. Widespread alterations of immune function and inflammatory regulators can be observed, and functional MRI reveals profound changes in regional cerebral activity related to attention and memory. Selective deprivation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, on the contrary, appears to be more activating and to have lesser effects on immunity and inflammation. Summary The findings support a critical need for sleep due to the widespread effects on the adult human that result from nonselective sleep deprivation. The effects of selective REM deprivation appear to be different and possibly less profound, and the functions of this sleep state remain enigmatic.
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Sleep deprivation and sleep disruptions cause severe cognitive and emotional problems.
“Sleep deprivation and sleep disruptions cause severe cognitive and emotional problems (142,634,1243)”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [142]
Cites
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<i>Sleep Deprivation and Vigilant Attention</i>
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Sleep duration and cardiometabolic risk: A review of the epidemiologic evidence
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Sleep restriction leads to increased activation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli
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Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00032.2012 · Cited by 2,783 · see citing works
“Sleep deprivation and sleep disruptions cause severe cognitive and emotional problems (142, 634, 1243), and animals deprived of sleep for several weeks show temperature and weight dysregulation and ultimately die of infections and tissue lesions (973).”
BackgroundOccipital sleep spindles predict sequence learning in a visuo-motor task
Lutz, N. D., Admard, M., Genzoni, E., Born, J., & Rauss, K. (2021) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsab056 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Brown, L. K.
- Affiliations
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Corresponding author
- Brown, Lee K.
- ORCID
- Brown, Lee K.
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 541-545
- ISSN
- 1070-5287 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2075374106
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- sleep deprivation, sleep function, REM sleep, cognitive impairment, sustained attention, emotional stability, risk-taking, moral reasoning, appetite, impaired glucose tolerance, memory, immune function, inflammation, brain activity
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cognition, Emotions, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Stages, Functional Neuroimaging
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