Cognitive performance in adolescents with Delayed Sleep‐Wake Phase Disorder: Treatment effects and a comparison with good sleepers

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate whether Australian adolescents with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder have impaired cognitive performance and whether chronobiological treatment for Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder improves adolescents' sleep, daytime functioning and cognitive performance. Adolescents with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (mean = 15.68 ± 2.1 y, 62% f) reported significantly later sleep timing (d = 1.03-1.45), less total sleep time (d = 0.82) and greater daytime sleepiness (d = 2.66), fatigue (d = 0.63) and impairment (d = 2.41), compared to good sleeping adolescents (mean = 15.9 ± 2.4 y, 75% f). However, there were no significant between-group differences (all p > 0.05) in performance on the Operation Span (ηp 2 = 0.043), Digit Span (forwards: ηp 2 = 0.002, backwards: ηp 2 = 0.003), Letter Number Sequencing (ηp 2 < 0.001) (working memory) and Digit-Symbol Substitution Tasks (ηp 2 = 0.010) (processing speed). Adolescents with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder went on to receive 3 weeks of light therapy. At 3 months post-treatment, adolescents with Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder reported significantly advanced sleep timing (d = 0.56-0.65), greater total sleep time (d = 0.52) and improved daytime sleepiness (d = 1.33), fatigue (d = 0.84) and impairment (d = 0.78). Performance on the Operation Span (d = 0.46), Letter Number Sequencing (d = 0.45) and Digit-Symbol Substitution tasks (d = 0.57) also significantly improved.

Readiness to change and commitment as predictors of therapy compliance in adolescents with delayed sleep-wake phase disorder

“…Adolescents were randomised to receive either green 2018). While adolescents' sleep outcomes improved over time (see Table 1), there were no statistically significant interaction effects between treatment groups and time for all outcome variables (p > 0.05; Richardson et al, 2018), thus all adolescents were grouped together for the present study.…”

“…The DSWPD diagnosis was confirmed from data derived from a semi-structured Clinical Sleep History Interview , and the sleep diary and actigraphy. The objectives of the treatment program were to improve adolescents' sleep and daytime functioning by using bright light therapy (via portable LED glasses; Wright et al, 2004) to re-time adolescents' sleep timing to an earlier time (Richardson et al, 2018). Adolescents were randomised to receive either green 2018).…”

The Effects of Circadian Rhythm Disruption towards Metabolic Stress and Mental Health: A Review

“…Nevertheless, there were still studies that showed significance of reduced sleep and working memory could not be established (Lovato et al 2013;Richardson et al 2018). From a between-subject quasi experimental study by Lovato et al (2013), Double Span Memory test which is a computer-based working memory task was used to prove that no observable working memory impairment was found among older adults with insomnia when compared with good sleepers.…”

“…From a between-subject quasi experimental study by Lovato et al (2013), Double Span Memory test which is a computer-based working memory task was used to prove that no observable working memory impairment was found among older adults with insomnia when compared with good sleepers. According to Richardson et al (2018), while worse performance on cognitive tasks were observed among Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (SWPD) than good sleepers, no significant relationship was reported between adolescents with Delayed SWPD and good sleepers on working memory impairment. In spite of that, delayed SWPD participants did relatively show poor performance regarding thoughts organisation, concentration and daytime functioning due to reduced quality of sleep than those who had a good night sleep.…”

An introduction to the special issue on sleep

“…These papers showed that meaningful increases (30-45 minutes) in sleep duration improve adolescents' cognitive functioning and academic performance. Where clinical levels of sleep problems are concerned, Richardson et al (2018) indicated that light therapy and morning activity can reverse some of the effects suggested by the Carskadon et al review (i.e., earlier sleep onset, greater sleep duration). As a result, short-term memory performance improved as did the speed of information processing.…”