-One workweek of mild sleep restriction adversely impacts sleepiness, performance, and proinflammatory cytokines. Many individuals try to overcome these adverse effects by extending their sleep on weekends. To assess whether extended recovery sleep reverses the effects of mild sleep restriction on sleepiness/alertness, inflammation, and stress hormones, 30 healthy young men and women (mean age Ϯ SD, 24.7 Ϯ 3.5 yr; mean body mass index Ϯ SD, 23.6 Ϯ 2.4 kg/m 2 ) participated in a sleep laboratory experiment of 13 nights [4 baseline nights (8 h/night), followed by 6 sleep restriction nights (6 h/night) and 3 recovery nights (10 h/night)]. Twenty-four-hour profiles of circulating IL-6 and cortisol, objective and subjective daytime sleepiness (Multiple Sleep Latency Test and Stanford Sleepiness Scale), and performance (Psychomotor Vigilance Task) were assessed on days 4 (baseline), 10 (after 1 wk of sleep restriction), and 13 (after 2 nights of recovery sleep). Serial 24-h IL-6 plasma levels increased significantly during sleep restriction and returned to baseline after recovery sleep. Serial 24-h cortisol levels during restriction did not change compared with baseline, but after recovery they were significantly lower. Subjective and objective sleepiness increased significantly after restriction and returned to baseline after recovery. In contrast, performance deteriorated significantly after restriction and did not improve after recovery. Extended recovery sleep over the weekend reverses the impact of one work week of mild sleep restriction on daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and IL-6 levels, reduces cortisol levels, but does not correct performance deficits. The long-term effects of a repeated sleep restriction/sleep recovery weekly cycle in humans remain unknown. recovery sleep; sleep restriction; alertness; cortisol; Il-6 IN MODERN SOCIETIES, increasing work demands and lifestyle changes have resulted in adults sleeping considerably less than the seven hours per night considered to be the average sleep time necessary to sustain optimal daytime functioning (8, 23). Experimental studies in healthy young adults have consistently demonstrated that chronic sleep restriction results in a number of abnormal physiological changes, including increased inflammatory markers (15,22,39) and impaired blood glucose regulation (33), which may be the mechanisms through which chronic sleep curtailment may affect health and longevity. A recent U.S. National Sleep Foundation survey showed that about 25% of the population do not get enough sleep during the weekdays due to the work demands, whereas about 40% sleep longer during the weekend trying to "catch up" for the shorter weekdays' sleep duration (23). Although it is commonly believed that sleep loss accumulated during the week can be compensated for by extending sleep over the weekend, it is not known whether recovery sleep adequately reverses the adverse effects of sleep loss. Most studies on the effects of recovery sleep after short-term sleep restriction are focused on psychomotor...

Obesity, a disorder of epidemic proportions, is a major risk factor for the incidence and chronicity of EDS, while weight loss is associated with its remission. Interestingly, objective sleep disturbances predict incident EDS in depressed individuals, whereas physiologic sleep propensity predicts incident EDS in those without depression. Weight management and treatment of depression and sleep disorders should be part of our public health policies.

In obese males obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with inflammation and insulin resistance; however, findings are confounded by adipose tissue, a hormone-and cytokine-secreting organ. Our goal was to examine whether in a relatively nonobese population, OSA is associated with sleepiness and inflammation/insulin resistance, and to assess the effects of a 2-month placebo-controlled continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use.77 subjects, 38 middle-aged males and post-menopausal females with OSA and 39 male and female controls, were studied in the sleep laboratory for 4 nights. Measures of sleepiness (objective and subjective), performance, serial 24-h blood samples for interleukin (IL)-6, tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-1, leptin and adiponectin, and single samples for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), fasting glucose and insulin levels were obtained.Apnoeic males were significantly sleepier and had significantly higher hsCRP, IL-6, leptin and insulin resistance than controls. Apnoeic females had significantly higher hsCRP; however, objective sleepiness, IL-6, TNFR-1, insulin resistance (Homeostatic Model Assessment index), leptin and adiponectin were similar to controls. CPAP improved subjective sleepiness, but no changes were observed in any of the biomarkers.In conclusion, OSA is associated with sleepiness, inflammation and insulin resistance, even in nonobese males, and this association is stronger in males than in females. Short-term CPAP does not improve the inflammatory/metabolic aberrations in OSA. @ERSpublications OSA is associated with sleepiness and inflammation/insulin resistance in nonobese males and females