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Impairment of reaction time among children awakened during stage 4 sleep

Mark Splaingard1, John Hayes, Gary A Smith

  • 1Columbus Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Columbus, OH, USA. splaingm@pediatrics.ohio-state.edu

Sleep
|February 22, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

  • Sleep inertia is characterized by impaired performance and sleepiness post-awakening.
  • Auditory arousal from stage 4 sleep (S4S) in children can be challenging.
  • Investigating reaction time (RT) deficits after awakening is crucial for understanding sleep inertia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between auditory arousal from S4S and subsequent reaction time (RT) impairments in children.
  • To determine if children with greater difficulty awakening or performing a self-rescue sequence (SRS) exhibit more significant RT deficits.

Main Methods:

  • Observational study conducted in a pediatric sleep center.
  • Participants included 44 healthy children aged 6-12 years.
  • Reaction time was measured before and after awakening from S4S using 100 dB alarms or manual methods.

Main Results:

  • Overall RT significantly slowed post-awakening (mean 37%, median 22%).
  • Youngest children (6-7 years) and awakening from the second S4S cycle showed the most pronounced RT slowing.
  • No significant difference in RT impairment was found between children who successfully performed a SRS and those who did not.

Conclusions:

  • The ability to perform a self-rescue sequence (SRS) did not correlate with the degree of reaction time (RT) slowing.
  • Younger children and awakening from deeper sleep stages (second S4S cycle) are associated with greater sleep inertia effects on RT.
Abstract

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