The influence of sleep duration and sleep-related symptoms on baseline neurocognitive performance among male and female high school athletes.

UNLABELLED

Typically, the effects of sleep duration on cognition are examined in isolation.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the effects of restricted sleep and related symptoms on neurocognitive performance.

METHOD

Baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) and postconcussion symptom scale (PCSS) were administered to athletes (N = 7,150) ages 14-17 (M = 15.26, SD = 1.09) prior to sport participation. Three groups of athletes were derived from total sleep duration: sleep restriction (≤5 hours), typical sleep (5.5-8.5 hours), and optimal sleep (≥9 hours). A MANCOVA (age and sex as covariates) was conducted to examine differences across ImPACT/PCSS. Follow-up MANOVA compared ImPACT/PCSS performance among symptomatic (e.g., trouble falling asleep, sleeping less than usual) adolescents from the sleep restriction group (n = 78) with asymptomatic optimal sleepers (n = 99).

RESULTS

A dose-response effect of sleep duration on ImPACT performance and PCSS was replicated (Wilk's λ = .98, F2,7145 = 17.25, p < .001, η2 = .01). The symptomatic sleep restricted adolescents (n = 78) had poorer neurocognitive performance: verbal memory, F = 11.60, p = .001, visual memory, F = 6.57, p = .01, visual motor speed, F = 6.19, p = .01, and reaction time (RT), F = 5.21, p = .02, compared to demographically matched controls (n = 99). Girls in the sleep problem group performed worse on RT (p = .024).

CONCLUSION

Examining the combination of sleep-related symptoms and reduced sleep duration effectively identified adolescents at risk for poor neurocognitive performance than sleep duration alone. (PsycINFO Database Record