Planning Ability and Alertness After Nap Deprivation: Beneficial Effects of Acute Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise Greater Than Sitting Naps

Abstract

Nap deprivation is regarded as a sleep loss for habitual nappers. The beneficial effects of napping and moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on the reduction in planning ability following nighttime sleep deprivation have been proven. However, it is still unknown whether it can improve the performance decline caused by daytime nap deprivation in habitual nappers. Seventy-four healthy adults who had a long-term habit of taking naps were assigned to three interventions after receiving nap deprivation: (1) Control group (no intervention); (2) Nap group (15-min sitting naps); (3) Exercise group (15-min aerobic exercise), in which subjective alertness, mood, fatigue, and task performance in objective alertness (Psychomotor Vigilance Task, PVT) and planning ability (the Tower of London Task) were measured. Results showed that nap deprivation negatively influenced some performance on the psychomotor vigilance (i.e., response times and 10% slowest response time) and planning ability (i.e., planning time). And acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise improved psychomotor alertness (i.e., response times) and planning ability (i.e., execution accuracy, execution time), a 15-min sitting naps only alleviated subjective fatigue, whereas some performance (i.e., response times) deteriorated when no intervention was used. These findings suggested that acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise has a better restorative effect on the reduced planning ability and objective alertness due to nap deprivation compared to sitting naps.