Effects of recovery sleep after one work week of mild sleep restriction on interleukin-6 and cortisol secretion and daytime sleepiness and performance
Slobodanka Pejovic · Maria Basta · Alexandros N. Vgontzas · Ilia Kritikou · Michele L. Shaffer · Marina Tsaoussoglou · David Stiffler · Zacharias Stefanakis · Edward O. Bixler · George P. Chrousos
American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2013
What the research tells us
Recovery differed across outcomes after mild sleep restriction. After two extended nights, IL-6 was not significantly different from baseline and sleepiness/fatigue improved, but sustained-attention performance did not recover. Twenty-four-hour cortisol had not significantly increased during restriction, so its subsequent fall is not evidence that all stress measures returned together.
Scope & interpretation
Without an external control, sequence, practice, earlier awakening and daytime activity may confound results. A nonsignificant baseline difference is not an equivalence test. Findings apply to the measured outcomes and recovery window.
Study at a glance
- POPULATION & SAMPLE
- 30 healthy adults, 16 men and 14 women, in a fixed-sequence within-person experiment.
- EXPOSURE / INTERVENTION / SUBJECT
- Four eight-hour, six six-hour and three ten-hour time-in-bed nights; key measurements after five restricted and two recovery nights.
- OUTCOMES
- IL-6, 24-hour cortisol, sleepiness, fatigue and vigilance. Post-recovery IL-6 difference from baseline was .02±.34 pg/mL, P=.94.
- TIME FRAME
- 13-night protocol, focusing on restriction and the state after two recovery nights.
Cited on this site
Editorial & review record
Record for v0.3 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Editorial note
Under the editorial responsibility of the TAP Editorial Team, this publication used AI assistance for content organization and editing.
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How responsibilities and review are recorded ↗Scope of this reading note
PMC web full-text protocol, blood sampling, results and discussion. Independent controls, circadian alignment and longer recovery require other studies.
- Funding & competing interests
- Funding and competing-interest details have not been verified against the full text. Consult the original publication’s declarations.
Project support
Founded and supported by Resilio.
Revision history
- · v0.3
Added the fixed-sequence design, IL-6 comparison and absence of a significant restriction-period cortisol increase.