Effects of recovery sleep after one work week of mild sleep restriction on interleukin-6 and cortisol secretion and daytime sleepiness and performance
Open accessAbstract
One workweek of mild sleep restriction adversely impacts sleepiness, performance, and proinflammatory cytokines. Many individuals try to overcome these adverse effects by extending their sleep on weekends. To assess whether extended recovery sleep reverses the effects of mild sleep restriction on sleepiness/alertness, inflammation, and stress hormones, 30 healthy young men and women (mean age ± SD, 24.7 ± 3.5 yr; mean body mass index ± SD, 23.6 ± 2.4 kg/m 2) participated in a sleep laboratory experiment of 13 nights [4 baseline nights (8 h/night), followed by 6 sleep restriction nights (6 h/night) and 3 recovery nights (10 h/night)]. Twenty-four-hour profiles of circulating IL-6 and cortisol, objective and subjective daytime sleepiness (Multiple Sleep Latency Test and Stanford Sleepiness Scale), and performance (Psychomotor Vigilance Task) were assessed on days 4 (baseline), 10 (after 1 wk of sleep restriction), and 13 (after 2 nights of recovery sleep). Serial 24-h IL-6 plasma levels increased significantly during sleep restriction and returned to baseline after recovery sleep. Serial 24-h cortisol levels during restriction did not change compared with baseline, but after recovery they were significantly lower. Subjective and objective sleepiness increased significantly after restriction and returned to baseline after recovery. In contrast, performance deteriorated significantly after restriction and did not improve after recovery. Extended recovery sleep over the weekend reverses the impact of one work week of mild sleep restriction on daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and IL-6 levels, reduces cortisol levels, but does not correct performance deficits. The long-term effects of a repeated sleep restriction/sleep recovery weekly cycle in humans remain unknown.
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Some studies, especially those using less severe sleep deprivation (time in bed ≥6 hours), found no evidence of increased evening cortisol levels following sleep deprivation.
“However, some studies, [18][19][20] and especially those using less severe sleep deprivation paradigms (time in bed ≥ 6 hours 19,20 ), found no evidence of increased evening cortisol levels following sleep deprivation.”
From Effects of Insufficient Sleep on Pituitary–Adrenocortical Response to CRH Stimulation in Healthy Men (2017) · cites this paper as [20]
The Abstract describes six nights with 6 hours in bed, and the Results report no significant change in 24-hour cortisol levels after restriction. The Results do not establish the narrower claim about evening cortisol specifically; they also report a change in cortisol's circadian pattern. The Discussion characterizes mild restriction as producing no activation of the HPA axis. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMany laboratory studies report that sleep restriction does not significantly affect cortisol levels.
“many laboratory studies have reported that SR, the type of sleep loss we used in our study, does not produce significant effects on cortisol levels (e.g., ref. 22).”
From Oxalic acid and diacylglycerol 36:3 are cross-species markers of sleep debt (2015) · cites this paper as [22]
Chronic sleep disturbances may be the cause or the consequence of other known triggers of low-grade inflammation, including circadian disruption, obesity, adverse lifestyle habits like physical inactivity and unhealthy food, and psychosocial influences like stress, loneliness, and low socioeconomic status.
“chronic sleep disturbances may be the cause or the consequence of other known triggers of low-grade inflammation, including circadian disruption (370), obesity (406), adverse lifestyle habits like physical inactivity (431) and unhealthy food (508), and psychosocial influences like stress (121, 189, 454, 525), loneliness (120), and low socioeconomic status (166)”
From The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease (2019) · cites this paper as [431]
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References 44 · Cited by 166
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [23]National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America. Poll, 2010 [Google Scholar]
- Authors
- Pejovic, S., Basta, M., Vgontzas, A. N., Kritikou, I., Shaffer, M. L., Tsaoussoglou, M., Stiffler, D., Stefanakis, Z., Bixler, E. O., & Chrousos, G. P.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- University of Crete (GR)
- Corresponding author
- Vgontzas, Alexandros N.
- Venue
- American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 2013-10-01
- Volume
- 305
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- E890-E896
- ISSN
- 0193-1849 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-1555
- PMC
- PMC3798707
- OpenAlex
- W2135668896
- Cited by
- 166
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 20.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL064415, R0 HL-64415)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- sleep restriction, recovery sleep, interleukin-6, cortisol, inflammation, daytime sleepiness, alertness, cognitive performance, psychomotor vigilance, circadian rhythm
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Arousal, Attention, Fatigue, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Wakefulness, Interleukin-6, Polysomnography
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