The benefits of a nap during prolonged work and wakefulness

Abstract Prolonged work scenarios with demands for sustained performance are increasingly common. Because sleep loss inevitably compromises functioning in such situations, napping has been proposed as a countermeasure. The optimal timing of the nap relative to its benefits for performance and mood is not known, however. To address this issue, 41 healthy adults were permitted a two-hour nap at one of five times during a 56-hour period of intermittent work, with no other sleep. Naps were placed 12 hours apart, near the circadian peak (P) or trough (T), and were preceded by 6(P), 18(T), 30(P), 42(T), or 54(P) hours of wakefulness. Work test bouts occurred every few hours and consisted of a variety of psychomotor and cognitive tasks as well as mood scales completed at the beginning, middle and end of each bout. A total of eight performance and 24 mood parameters were derived from the bouts and compared between groups at all test points prior to and following the naps. An estimate of the extent to which each n...

[1]  D. Dinges,et al.  Catastrophes, sleep, and public policy: consensus report. , 1988, Sleep.

[2]  M. Orne,et al.  Temporal placement of a nap for alertness: contributions of circadian phase and prior wakefulness. , 1987, Sleep.

[3]  D F Dinges,et al.  Differential effects of prior wakefulness and circadian phase on nap sleep. , 1986, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[4]  T. Roth,et al.  The alerting effects of naps in sleep-deprived subjects. , 1986, Psychophysiology.

[5]  R. Thayer.  Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List: Current Overview and Structural Analysis , 1986 .

[6]  David F. Dinges,et al.  Microcomputer analyses of performance on a portable, simple visual RT task during sustained operations , 1985 .

[7]  David F. Dinges,et al.  A dual-probe recognition memory task for use during sustained operations , 1985 .

[8]  A N Nicholson,et al.  Sustained performance with short evening and morning sleeps. , 1985, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[9]  David F. Dinges,et al.  Assessing performance upon abrupt awakening from naps during quasi-continuous operations , 1985 .

[10]  D. Haslam.  Sleep deprivation and naps , 1985 .

[11]  Robert G. Angus,et al.  Effects of sleep loss on sustained cognitive performance during a command and control simulation , 1985 .

[12]  James A. Hodgdon,et al.  Cognitive performance during successive sustained physical work episodes , 1985 .

[13]  Mats Gillberg,et al.  The effects of two alternative timings of a one-hour nap on early morning performance , 1984, Biological Psychology.

[14]  A. Tilley,et al.  The effects of a restricted sleep regime on the composition of sleep and on performance. , 1984, Psychophysiology.

[15]  Haslam Dr.  The incentive effect and sleep deprivation. , 1983 .

[16]  P Naitoh,et al.  Restorative power of naps in designing continuous work schedules. , 1982, Journal of human ergology.

[17]  A J Tilley,et al.  The Sleep and Performance of Shift Workers , 1982, Human factors.

[18]  R. Broughton,et al.  Performance and evoked potential measures of various states of daytime sleepiness. , 1982, Sleep.

[19]  M. Carskadon,et al.  Current perspectives on daytime sleepiness: the issues. , 1982, Sleep.

[20]  R T Wilkinson,et al.  Field Test of Arousal: A Portable Reaction Timer with Data Storage , 1982, Human factors.

[21]  R Broughton,et al.  Performance deficits following short-term partial sleep deprivation and subsequent recovery oversleeping. , 1981, Canadian journal of psychology.

[22]  R T Wilkinson,et al.  Portable devices for measuring performance in the field: the effects of sleep deprivation and night shift on the performance of computer operators. , 1979, Ergonomics.

[23]  P. Opstad,et al.  Performance, mood, and clinical symptoms in men exposed to prolonged, severe physical work and sleep deprivation. , 1978, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[24]  A. Wing,et al.  Effects of sleep deprivation on short duration performance measures compared to the Wilkinson auditory vigilance task. , 1978, Sleep.

[25]  P Knauth,et al.  The effect of memory load on the circadian variation in performance efficiency under a rapidly rotating shift system. , 1976, Ergonomics.

[26]  Paul Naitoh,et al.  The Operational Consequences of Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Deficit , 1974 .

[27]  B B Morgan,et al.  Effects of continuous work and sleep loss in the reduction and recovery of work efficiency. , 1974, American Industrial Hygiene Association journal.

[28]  W. Dement,et al.  Quantification of sleepiness: a new approach. , 1973, Psychophysiology.

[29]  F. J. Evans,et al.  Recovery from Fatigue , 1973 .

[30]  A. Kjellberg,et al.  Effects of 24-hour sleep deprivation on rate of decrement in a 10-minute auditory reaction time task. , 1972, Journal of experimental psychology.

[31]  M. Lorr,et al.  Manual for the Profile of Mood States , 1971 .

[32]  R. Thayer,et al.  Measurement of Activation through Self-Report , 1967, Psychological reports.

[33]  M. Orne.  On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. , 1962 .