Effects of Repeated Doses of Caffeine during 64 Hours of Sleep Deprivation on Subsequent Recovery Sleep

Abstract : Both military operations and civilian emergencies may require sustained work, entailing prolonged periods with little or no sleep. Under these conditions, stimulants, most commonly caffeine, often are used to try to maintain alertness. However, stimulants can interfere with subsequent sleep, decreasing sleep's recuperative effects on alertness and performance. Caffeine has been well documented to impair sleep, generally causing increases in sleep latency and wake time, with reductions in the deeper sleep stages. Situations where less than a full-night's sleep occurs prior to returning to work would make such sleep impairment particularly problematic. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine, administered in repeated doses during 64 hr of sleep deprivation, on alertness and performance during sleep deprivation and, in a subset of subjects, on subsequent nighttime recovery sleep. The focus of this report is caffeine effects on recovery sleep; effects on performance have been reported elsewhere. Nocturnal polysomnography was performed before and after 64 hr without sleep.

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