Recovery from Fatigue
Abstract
To study the effectiveness of daytime sleep (napping) in alleviating the subjective and objective consequences of fatigue, partially sleep-deprived subjects volunteered to take naps in a controlled laboratory setting. EEG and EOG records were obtained as well as a behavioral performance measure, reaction time measures, and subjective depth of sleep reports. Subjects carried out a serial subtractions task: (a) before going to sleep, (b) immediately on being aroused from sleep, and (c) some time later after the electrodes had been removed and they felt fully aroused. In general, when subjects were aroused from napping, there was an initial impairment of functioning. Further, some trends in the data suggest that naps were effective in improving final performance. Significantly greater performance decrement was associated with sudden arousal from delta sleep than from REM sleep. Short periods of sleep which did not include significant amounts of delta sleep caused little or no decrement in performance. Further work is in progress studying the physiological characteristics of naps and their effects on the subjective recovery from fatigue among individuals who habitually take naps versus those who do not.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 31, 1972
- Accession Number
- ADA117379
Entities
People
- Harvey D. Cohen
- Martin T. Orne
- Mary R. Cook