Performance impairment during four days partial sleep deprivation compared with the acute effects of alcohol and hypoxia

ObjectiveSubjects were exposed to cumulated partial sleep deprivation (psd), alcohol intake and hypoxia in a sequential design to examine the impact on neurobehavioral performance.MethodsSixteen healthy male volunteers were enrolled in this study and were exposed in turn, after adaptation and baseline measurements, to one day of periods of hypoxia, one day of alcohol intake and one day for recovering (with 8 h time in bed TIB). Subsequently the exposition of those conditions is that the subjects spent 5 h night restriction daily for four consecutive days, followed by two recovery days. Performance was tested five (or six) times per day with reaction time task (SRT) and unstable tracking task (UTT).ResultsThe performance impairment showed to be cumulative in both tests over the four sleep deprivation days and differed significantly from baseline. Corresponding performance deficits under the influence of the stressors were for SRT: four days psd, 13% O2 concentration and a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of around 0.4–0.6‰ for UTT: four days psd, 13% O2 concentration and a BAC of around 0.6‰. One night of 8 h sleep restored performance nearly to baseline level.ConclusionsA sleeping time of 5 h per night for four consecutive days impairs performance in such a way that traffic safety may be compromised.