Cognition and Alertness in Medical Students: Effects of a Single Night of Partial Sleep Deprivation

Partial sleep deprivation is common among young adults today. Though multiple studies have stressed on the benefits of having a good sleep, medical students often compromise their sleep due to academic targets and stress. This can lead to changes in attention and cognition. The effects of acute partial sleep deprivation of a single night have been studied less and studies in the past in Indian context have shown controversial results that reaction time is decreased following acute partial sleep deprivation.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of a single night of partial sleep deprivation on the cognitive status and alertness of medical students in the Indian context and to find out the change in auditory event-related potential (AERP) and psychomotor vigilance of medical students following a single night of partial sleep deprivation.

The study was a before-after experimental trial conducted among 20 medical student volunteers of a tertiary care hospital of eastern India. Baseline psychomotor vigilance task measured by unprepared serial reaction time, and AERP measured by P300, were assessed at baseline (after normal sleep) and after four hours of sleep deprivation (intervention).

It was seen that median RT had increased from 320.4 ms to 337.6 ms after acute partial sleep deprivation (P < .001). P300 and lapses (P < .05) were also found to increase significantly (P < .05), while there was significant decrease in correctness (P < .01).

The study concluded that cognition is affected, including alertness and latency, following partial sleep deprivation even for a single night and contradicted earlier results of Indian studies stating variable effect on psychomotor vigilance.