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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2021; 14(S 02): 111-117
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20200088
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sleep fragmentation and working memory in healthy adults

Masato Okuda
1   Chubu University Graduate School of Life and Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences - Kasugai - Aichi - Japan.
,
Akiko Noda
1   Chubu University Graduate School of Life and Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences - Kasugai - Aichi - Japan.
,
Sho Mabuchi
2   Chubu University Collage of Life and Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences -Kasugai - Aichi- Japan.
,
Kunihiro Iwamoto
3   Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry - Nagoya - Aichi -Japan.
,
Masahiro Banno
3   Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry - Nagoya - Aichi -Japan.
4   Seichiryo Hospital, Department of Psychiatry - Nagoya - Aichi - Japan.
,
Seiko Miyata
3   Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry - Nagoya - Aichi -Japan.
,
Fumihiko Yasuma
5   National Hospital Organization Suzuka Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine - Suzuka - Mie -Japan.
,
Norio Ozaki
3   Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry - Nagoya - Aichi -Japan.
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Introduction Sleep is essential for performing cognitive function in humans. We have hypothesized that sleep fragmentation compared to sleep efficiency may have a negative impact on the working memory.

Material and Methods Twenty-eight healthy adults (18 males and 10 females; mean age 27.8±15.5 years) were enrolled in this study. We measured the total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency, %stage wakefulness (W), %stage rapid eye movement (REM), %stage N1, %stage N2, %stage N3, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and arousal index using polysomnography. Working memory, executive function, and sustained attention of three domains of cognitive function were evaluated with the number of back task (N-back task), Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), and continuous performance test-identical pairs (CPT-IP), respectively.

Results The percentage of correct answers on the 2-back task was significantly correlated with %stage REM, %stage N1, and %stage N2 (%stage REM: r=0.505, p=0.006; %stage N1: r=-0.637, p<0.001; %stage N2: r=0.670, p<0.001), and multiple regression analysis including the stepwise forward selection method revealed that %stage N2 was the most significant factor (%stage N2: β=0.670, p<0.001). The percentage of correct answers on the 2-back task was also significantly correlated with TST, sleep efficiency, WASO, and arousal index (TST: r=0.492, p=0.008; sleep efficiency: r=0.622, p<0.001; WASO: r=-0.721, p<0.001; arousal index: r=-0.656, p<0.001), and WASO was the significant factor (β=-2.086, p=0.007). The WCST category achievement and CPT-IP d-prime score were correlated with none of the sleep variables.

Conclusion Increased WASO and a decrease in %stage N2 were associated with worse working memory.

Sleep Fragmentation - Sleep Stage - Wake After Sleep Onset - Working Memory - Cognitive Function


Publication History

Received: 03 September 2020

Accepted: 08 December 2020

Article published online:
30 November 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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