Department of Surgical Sciences, Functional Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Molecular Neuropharmacology (Sleep Science Laboratory), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 10;12(1):379. doi: 10.1038/s41398-022-02146-y.
Night shift work impairs vigilance performance, reduces the ability to stay awake, and compromises brain health. To investigate if the magnitude of these adverse night shift work effects differs between sexes and weight groups, 47 men and women with either normal weight or obesity participated in one night of sleep and one night of total sleep loss. During the night of sleep loss, participants' subjective sleepiness, vigilance performance, and ability to stay awake during 2-min quiet wake with eyes closed were repeatedly assessed. In addition, blood was collected in the morning after sleep loss and sleep to measure central nervous system (CNS) health biomarkers. Our analysis showed that women were sleepier during the night of sleep loss (P < 0.05) and spent more time in microsleep during quiet wake testing (P < 0.05). Finally, higher blood levels of neurofilament light chain, a biomarker of axonal damage, were found among women in the morning after sleep loss (P < 0.002). Compared with normal-weight subjects, those with obesity were more prone to fall asleep during quiet wake (P < 0.05) and exhibited higher blood levels of the CNS health biomarker pTau181 following sleep loss (P = 0.001). Finally, no differences in vigilance performance were noted between the sex and weight groups. Our findings suggest that the ability to stay awake during and the CNS health biomarker response to night shift work may differ between sexes and weight groups. Follow-up studies must confirm our findings under more long-term night shift work conditions.
夜班工作会损害警觉性表现，降低保持清醒的能力，并损害大脑健康。为了研究这些夜班工作的负面影响在性别和体重组之间是否存在差异，47 名体重正常或肥胖的男性和女性参加了一夜睡眠和一夜完全睡眠剥夺。在睡眠剥夺期间，反复评估参与者的主观困倦、警觉性表现以及在闭眼 2 分钟安静清醒时保持清醒的能力。此外，在睡眠剥夺后和睡眠期间采集清晨血液以测量中枢神经系统 (CNS) 健康生物标志物。我们的分析表明，女性在睡眠剥夺期间更困倦（P < 0.05），在安静清醒测试中更易进入微睡眠（P < 0.05）。最后，睡眠剥夺后女性清晨血液中的神经丝轻链（轴突损伤的生物标志物）水平较高（P < 0.002）。与体重正常的受试者相比，肥胖者在安静清醒时更容易入睡（P < 0.05），并且在睡眠剥夺后表现出更高的 CNS 健康生物标志物 pTau181 水平（P = 0.001）。最后，在警觉性表现方面，性别和体重组之间没有差异。我们的研究结果表明，在夜班工作期间保持清醒的能力和对中枢神经系统健康生物标志物的反应可能在性别和体重组之间存在差异。需要进行后续研究以在更长期的夜班工作条件下证实我们的发现。
