Chronic Sleep Restriction: Neurobehavioral and Physiological Responses

Sleep is a physiological state considered essential for health and human survival. The prevalence of chronic sleep restriction has increased in modern society, as well as the effects of the same health concerns about various aspects, including the physiological and neurobehavioral. The objective of this study is to identify the neurobehavioral and physiological responses of healthy men with different needs of total sleep time (TST) submitted to chronic sleep restriction. Participants in this study will be 30 male volunteers, aged between 20 and 35 years, divided into three groups: Group 1 (n = 10) with TST ≤ 6 hours (h), Group 2 (n = 10) with TST ≥ 9h and Group 3 (n = 10): TST with between 7 and 8h. The TST will be established by the constant and continuous use of actigraphy for 10 days prior to the onset of the experimental protocol. All volunteers will undergo medical and polysomnography (PSG) examination to detect the presence or not of changes in sleep as well as other health problem that prevents their participation in the study. The experimental protocol consists of a basal night of sleep, five consecutive nights of chronic sleep restriction to 25% of TST in the beginning night and a night of recovery, which will be allowed to sleep the sleep pattern. Each night will have PSG monitoring and when wake up in each day, the volunteer will undergo tests to assess the physiological and neurobehavioral variables. The significance level will be 5% (p ≤ 0.05).