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Sleep-related and time-of-day variations in fatigue and psychomotor performance

Schlafabhängige und tageszeitliche Änderungen von Müdigkeit und Leistungsfähigkeit

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Zusammenfassung

Mögliche Abhängigkeiten zwischen der zirkadianen und der schlafabhängigen Komponente von Müdigkeit wurden für verschiedene Parameter in einem Experiment untersucht. Dabei wurden zusätzlich der Einfluss der Dauer einer psychomotorischen Aufgabe auf Leistungsparameter und der Zusammenhang mit zirkadianer und schlafbezogener Müdigkeit erfasst.

Zweiundzwanzig gesunde männliche Probanden nahmen an der Studie teil. Sie verbrachten fünf Tage in einem isolierten Schlaflabor. Ihr Müdigkeitszustand wurde während zweier aufeinander folgender Nächte untersucht, einmal unter Schlafentzug und dann nach einem Erholungsschlaf nach der ersten der beiden Nächte.Der Zustand der Probanden wurde durch Selbsteinschätzung und durch psychomotorische Leistungstests erfasst.

Sowohl die zirkadiane als auch die schlafbezogene Komponente der subjektiven Müdigkeit waren statistisch signifikant und zudem unabhängig voneinander. Leistungsparameter zeigten einen durch die Aufgabe selbst induzierten Effekt, der eher vom Schlafentzug als von der zirkadianen Uhr beeinflusst war.

Die Ergebnisse untermauern den Ansatz, Müdigkeitsmodelle wissenschaftlich auf das Zwei-Prozess-Modell der Schlafregulation zu gründen.Die Metrik, die benutzt wird, um den Müdigkeitszustand zu beschreiben, hat für das Modell wichtige Konsequenzen. Subjektive Müdigkeitsskalen haben den Vorteil, dass zirkadiane und schlafabhängige Anteile unabhängig sind und getrennt werden können. Modelle für Leistungsparameter müssen komplexere Effekte berücksichtigen, die die Aufgabe selbst induziert.

Summary

An experiment was conducted to study the relationship between circadian and sleep-related components in fatigue for different measures. In addition, the effect of the duration of performing a task on the performance itself and its relation to the circadian and sleep-related fatigue state was to be explored.

Twenty-two healthy male volunteers took part in the study. They stayed in an isolation unit for five days.During two nights their fatigue state was assessed once when they were sleep deprived and then after a daytime recovery sleep. The state was assessed by subjective ratings and by psychomotor performance tests.

Circadian and sleep-related effects in subjective fatigue were both significant and independent of each other. Performance measures showed a task induced effect that was more influenced by sleep deprivation than by the circadian clock.

The results support the approach to model subjective fatigue and psychomotor performance by using the two-process model of sleep regulation as the scientific basis. The metrics used to describe the fatigue state has important consequences for the model. Subjective fatigue assessments have the advantage that circadian and sleeprelated effects may be separated. Models based on psychomotor performance parameters have to consider task induced effects in a more complex way.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DLR German Aerospace Centre, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Linder Höhe, 51147, Köln, Germany

    A. Gundel, K. Marsalek & C. Radu

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  1. A. Gundel
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  2. K. Marsalek
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  3. C. Radu
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Correspondence to A. Gundel.

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Gundel, A., Marsalek, K. & Radu, C. Sleep-related and time-of-day variations in fatigue and psychomotor performance. Somnologie 11, 186–191 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-007-0305-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-007-0305-9

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