Performance and Mood During and After Gradual Sleep Reduction

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Abstract
Long‐term gradual sleep reduction effects were investigated on 4 young adult collegiate couples. The battery of assessment tools included a sleep log, Stanford Sleepiness Scale, Profile of Mood States, Feeling Tone Checklist, a measure of circadian oral temperature, Williams Word Memory test, Digit Span test, Wilkinson Auditory Vigilance task, Wilkinson Addition task, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Rapid Alternation task, psychiatric and medical examinations, and a subjective effects questionnnaire. It was concluded that 6–8 months of gradual sleep restriction, down to 4.5–5.5 hrs per night, does not result in behavioral effects measurable by the instruments used. Subjective fatigue appears to be the limiting factor in determining tolerability of gradual sleep restriction. At the end of an additional 12‐month follow‐up period, total sleep time was still 1–2.5 hrs below baseline, but measures of well‐being had returned to baseline levels.

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