It will come as no surprise to new parents struggling after a night of feeds or doctors on call, but being woken up in the night is as detrimental as getting just four hours of sleep. Just one night of interrupted sleep may negatively affect mood, attention span and cognitive ability according to a new study from Tel Aviv University, published in the journal Sleep Medicine.
In the last 50 years, sleep research has focused on sleep deprivation, and practically ignored the impact of night-wakings, which is a pervasive phenomenon for people from many walks of life. Directors of the study hope that their work will bring this to the attention of scientists and clinicians, who should recognize the price paid by individuals who have to endure frequent night-wakings.
Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 61 healthy adults, 40 of which were females between the ages of 20 and 29 years old, were traced at their homes using actigraphy and sleep diaries. Subjects slept a full eight-hours one night, followed by a night of interrupted sleep in which they received four phone calls directing them to complete a brief computer exercise before returning to bed. The interruptions were designed to keep participants awake for a period of 10 to 15 minutes. The morning after both nights, the volunteers completed tasks to measure their attention span and emotional state: results proved that just one night of interrupted sleep had negative effects on mood, attention span and cognitive ability.
While they found few significant differences between interrupted sleep and sleep deprivation, the differences between the aforementioned conditions and a normal night's sleep were vast. Results indicate an increase in depression, fatigue and confusion in addition to diminished vigor and motivation when sleep is interrupted or restricted.
This means that even when people get a total of seven hours sleep a night, being forced to wake up for regular 15 minute feeds, or consultations, will leave them feeling like they had just four hours rest. “The sleep of many parents is often disrupted by external sources such as a crying baby demanding care during the night,” said Professor Avi Sadeh and a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences. Doctors on call, who may receive several phone calls a night, also experience disruptions. These night wakings could be relatively short - only five to ten minutes - but they disrupt the natural sleep rhythm.
These effects accumulate and therefore the functional price new parents-who awaken three to ten times a night for months on end-pay for common infant sleep disturbance is enormous.
Besides the physical effects of interrupted sleep, parents often develop feelings of anger toward their infants and then feel guilty about these negative feelings. The findings bear relevance to substantial portions of the population whose sleep is regularly fragmented including medical students, shift workers, military personnel and parents.
Professionals as well as the general public should be aware of the detrimental effects of the various kinds of disruption in sleep on daily functioning and mood and consider countermeasures to minimise their consequences.
For more information on how you can get a good night's sleep visit our website at HoustonSleep.net.
References:
Study: Interrupted Sleep May Be as Harmful as No Sleep at All- Melissa Hellmann, TIME Magazine July 9, 2014
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