Does sleep deprivation increase the vulnerability to acute psychosocial stress in young and older adults?

Abstract

Sleep loss and psychosocial stress often co-occur in today's society, but there is limited knowledge on the combined effects. Therefore, this experimental study investigated whether one night of sleep deprivation affects the response to a psychosocial challenge. A second aim was to examine if older adults, who may be less affected by both sleep deprivation and stress, react differently than young adults. 124 young (18-30 years) and 94 older (60-72 years) healthy adults participated in one of four conditions: i. normal night sleep & Placebo-Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), ii. normal night sleep & Trier Social Stress Test, iii. sleep deprivation & Placebo-TSST, iv. sleep deprivation & TSST. Subjective stress ratings, heart rate variability (HRV), salivary alpha amylase (sAA) and cortisol were measured throughout the protocol. At the baseline pre-stress measurement, salivary cortisol and subjective stress values were higher in sleep deprived than in rested participants. However, the reactivity to and recovery from the TSST was not significantly different after sleep deprivation for any of the outcome measures. Older adults showed higher subjective stress, higher sAA and lower HRV at baseline, indicating increased basal autonomic activity. Cortisol trajectories and HRV slightly differed in older adults compared with younger adults (regardless of the TSST). Moreover, age did not moderate the effect of sleep deprivation. Taken together, the results show increased stress levels after sleep deprivation, but do not confirm the assumption that one night of sleep deprivation increases the responsivity to an acute psychosocial challenge.

Mood impairment is stronger in young than in older adults after sleep deprivation

“…Participants were screened for sleep disorders and current stress (see for more details Schwarz et al. ()). Participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were invited to an initial meeting approximately 1 week before the test session.…”

“…This study is part of a larger project (Schwarz et al., ). Stratified by age and gender, participants were randomized to either one night of normal sleep or sleep deprivation for one night, as well as session start time.…”

“…Participants were instructed to rate their stress levels during the past 5 min. The stress scale has not yet been formally validated, but our recent results suggest that it is a sensitive measure when participants are exposed to an acute stress paradigm (Schwarz et al., ).…”

Effect of sleep deprivation on emotional working memory

“…Data were collected from 61 healthy participants (age: M = 23.4 years, SD = 3.4 years, range = 18–30 years, 40% women). The participants were randomized to a control or a total sleep deprivation (TSD) condition as part of a larger project (Schwarz et al, ). Here, we focused on the young sample (see Table for demographics and sleep characteristics).…”

Reciprocal relations between work stress and insomnia symptoms: A prospective study

“…However, there is a lack of studies examining the relation between work‐related stress and insomnia symptoms across a period of several years (Åkerstedt, ). The stress−sleep relationship might be bi‐directional, as the experience of insomnia and sleep deprivation has been shown to be associated with emotional and physical impairment and higher stress levels (Schwarz et al, ; Zaslavsky, LaCroix, Hale, Tindle, & Shochat, ). Non‐restorative sleep and sleep disturbances have each predicted subsequent high demands, low control and low social support at work, while sleep disturbances additionally predicted perceived stress (Åkerstedt et al, ; Magnusson Hanson et al, ).…”