Effects of 72hours total sleep deprivation on male astronauts' executive functions and emotion

To provide evidence for better understanding stressful situations, the present study was designed to investigate the specific physiological and psychological responses under stressful situations like social isolation and sleep deprivation.

Twelve healthy male adults (age: 18-30years old) who participated in our study were randomized to the 72hours of social isolation and 72hours of sleep deprivation experimental conditions. Performances (event-related potentials and physiological activities) on the Go/Nogo task which reflected the executive functions were accessed at baseline (pretest) and after 72-hour of the experiment (posttest).

The results showed that compared to the social isolation, the participants got strengthened heart rate (HR), weakened HR variability and smaller amplitude of the P300 under the sleep deprivation condition; moreover, they had lower positive emotion and higher negative mood in the posttest.

The present study indicated that sleep deprivation specifically influenced the intensity of task-relevant information processing, mood and vagal tone.