Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Center for Computational Radiology and Artificial Intelligence, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Nat Hum Behav. 2024 Mar;8(3):422-430. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01827-6. Epub 2024 Feb 20.
Given that sleep deprivation studies consistently show that short sleep causes neurocognitive deficits, the effects of insufficient sleep on brain health and cognition are of great interest and concern. Here we argue that experimentally restricted sleep is not a good model for understanding the normal functions of sleep in naturalistic settings. Cross-disciplinary research suggests that human sleep is remarkably dependent on environmental conditions and social norms, thus escaping universally applicable rules. Sleep need varies over time and differs between individuals, showing a complex relationship with neurocognitive function. This aspect of sleep is rarely addressed in experimental work and is not reflected in expert recommendations about sleep duration. We recommend focusing on the role of individual and environmental factors to improve our understanding of the relationship between human sleep and cognition.
鉴于睡眠剥夺研究一致表明，睡眠不足会导致神经认知缺陷，因此，睡眠不足对大脑健康和认知的影响引起了极大的关注。在这里，我们认为，实验性限制睡眠并不是一个很好的模型，无法用于理解自然环境下睡眠的正常功能。跨学科研究表明，人类睡眠对环境条件和社会规范具有很强的依赖性，因此无法形成普遍适用的规则。睡眠需求随时间而变化，并且在个体之间存在差异，与神经认知功能呈复杂关系。这一方面在实验工作中很少涉及，也没有反映在有关睡眠持续时间的专家建议中。我们建议关注个体和环境因素的作用，以增进我们对人类睡眠与认知之间关系的理解。
