Increased vulnerability to attentional failure during acute sleep deprivation in women depends on menstrual phase

Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="s1"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d3605943e238">Study Objectives</h5> <p id="d3605943e240">To investigate sex differences in the effect of sleep deprivation on performance, accounting for menstrual phase in women. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="s2"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d3605943e243">Methods</h5> <p id="d3605943e245">We examined alertness data from 124 healthy women and men (40 women, 84 men; aged 18–30 years) who maintained wakefulness for at least 30 hr in a laboratory setting using a constant routine protocol. Objective alertness was assessed every 2 hr using a 10 min psychomotor vigilance task. Subjective alertness was assessed every hour via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="s3"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d3605943e248">Results</h5> <p id="d3605943e250">Women in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle demonstrated the poorest level of performance. This poor performance was most pronounced at times corresponding to the typical sleep episode, demonstrating a window of vulnerability at night during this menstrual phase. At 24 hr awake, over 60 per cent of their responses were lapses of &gt;500 ms and over one-third of their responses were longer lapses of at least 3 s in duration. Women in the luteal phase, however, were relatively protected from alertness failure, performing similar or better than both follicular-phase women and men. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="s4"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d3605943e253">Conclusions</h5> <p id="d3605943e255">These results have important implications for education and intervention programs for shift workers, specifically during times of vulnerability to attentional failure that increase risk of injury. </p> </div>