Effects of Acute Sleep Restriction on Laboratory and Ambulatory Physiological Reactivity in Young Adults

Introduction. Reduced sleep duration has been associated with adverse health outcomes, in particular negative cardiovascular health. The mechanisms by which sleep loss may influence cardiovascular health are unclear but may be related to alterations in physiological stress responding. The current project sought to assess the association between sleep duration and cardiovascular response to laboratory social stress in addition to examining ambulant cardiovascular functioning using experimental partial restriction of sleep duration in a sample of healthy young adults. To objectively monitor adherence to the sleep manipulation, participants were provided with a wrist activity monitor. Associated physiological processes, including salivary markers of neuroendocrine stress functioning and inflammation were additionally monitored to further explore the effects of acute sleep restriction on stress system functioning across both laboratory and ambulatory contexts. Methods. Resulting from pooled data collected from 128 college students, five empirical studies are reported, incorporating successive methodological refinements to help advance understanding of the effects of sleep loss on physiological responding. In a sample of 93 college students, Study 1 examined laboratory cardiovascular reactivity (i.e., systolic and diastolic blood pressure [SBP and DBP, respectively], and heart rate [HR]) during evaluative social stress, including assessments of hemodynamic determinants of blood pressure, to determine if cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress (CVR) was altered under conditions of experimental sleep restriction relative to a rested group. The primary aim of Study 1 was to examine laboratory CVR as a possible mechanism through which sleep restriction may be related to increased cardiovascular risk. In Study 2, in order to assess possible additional physiological effects of laboratory stress that may exist across stress systems, salivary alpha-amylase response (sAA) to social stress, as a measure of ...