Sex differences in perceptions of sleep inertia following nighttime awakenings

The influence of biological sex on sleep inertia symptoms is currently unknown. We investigated the role of sex differences in the subjective experience and objective cognitive manifestation of sleep inertia following nighttime awakenings.

Thirty-two healthy adults (16 female, 25.91 ± 5.63 years) completed a 1-week at-home study with one experimental night during which sleep was measured by polysomnography and participants were awakened during their habitual sleep time. Participants completed a psychomotor vigilance task, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), visual analog mood scales, and a descending subtraction task (DST) prior to sleep (baseline) and at 2, 12, 22, and 32 min after awakening. A series of mixed-effects models with Bonferroni-corrected post hoc tests were used to examine the main effects of test bout and sex, and their interaction, with a random effect of participant, and order of wake-up and sleep history as covariates.

All outcomes except for percent correct on the DST showed a significant main effect of test bout, with worse performance after waking compared to baseline (all ps < .003). Significant effects of sex (p = .002) and sex × test bout (p = .01; R²_M = 0.49, R²_C = 0.69) were observed for KSS, with females reporting a greater increase in sleepiness from baseline to after waking compared to males.

These results suggest that while females reported feeling sleepier than males following nighttime awakenings, their cognitive performance was comparable. Future research is needed to determine whether perceptions of sleepiness influence decision-making during the transition from sleep to wakefulness.