Dreamless Sleep and the Whole of Human Life: An Ontological Exposition

This paper explores the meaning of dreamless sleep. First, I consider four reasons why we commonly pass over sleep’s ontological significance. Second, I compare and contrast death and sleep to show how each is oriented to questions regarding the possibilities of “being-a-whole.” In the third and final part, I explore the meaning and implications of “being-toward-sleep,” arguing that human existence emerges atop naturally anonymous corporeality (i.e. living being). In sum, I try to show that we can recover an authentic – if somewhat ambiguous – sense of “being-a-whole” only by recognizing the ontological significance of dreamless sleep.     

Sleep deprivation adversely affects interpersonal responses to frustration

Sleep deprivation produces negative effects on mood and cognitive function, but existing data have almost exclusively utilized objective rating scales, which do not permit evaluation of idiosyncratic and unstructured responses. In this study, we used a semi-projective measure, the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study, to assess subjective responses to frustration following two nights without sleep. Twenty-six healthy volunteers completed the P-F at rested baseline and again following 55 h of continuous wakefulness. Participants provided written responses for an ambiguous cartoon character confronted with various frustrating situations. Relative to rested baseline, sleep deprivation was associated with altered responses on several indices, indicating a great number of uncommon types of responses, increased tendency to blame others for problems, and a reduced willingness to alleviate a conflict situation by accepting blame. Individual differences in several aspects of emotional intelligence were predictive of the extent to which responses to frustration changed with sleep loss. These findings suggest that sleep deprivation significantly weakens the inhibition of aggression and willingness to behave in ways that facilitate effective social interaction, possibly through reduced metabolic activity in prefrontal regions of the brain important for personality, affect, and inhibitory behavior.     

Why won’t she sleep? Screen exposure and sleep patterns in young infants

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends infants’ exposure to electronic screen-based media be minimized; however, more research is needed to understand effects of viewing screen-based media. Here, we examine relations between media use and sleep. Data were collected from mothers when their infants (N = 429) were four months of age. Mothers answered questions about the time their infants spent watching electronic screen-based media. Exposure to electronic screen-based media was negatively associated with nighttime sleep (but not daytime sleep), such that an hour of screen time was associated with nearly 13 min less sleep on a typical night.     

Age attenuates noise and increases symmetry of head movements during sleep resting-state fMRI in healthy neonates,infants, and toddlers

Newborns produce spontaneous movements during sleep that are functionally important for their future development. This nuance has been previously studied using animal models and more recently using movement data from sleep resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans. Age-related trajectory of statistical features of spontaneous movements of the head is under-examined. This study quantitatively mapped a developmental trajectory of spontaneous head movements during an rs-fMRI scan acquired during natural sleep in 91 datasets from healthy children from ∼birth to 3 years old, using the Open Science Infancy Research upcycling protocol. The youngest participants studied, 2–3 week-old neonates, showed increased noise-to-signal levels as well as lower symmetry features of their movements; noise-to-signal levels were attenuated and symmetry was increased in the older infants and toddlers (all Spearman's rank-order correlations, P < 0.05). Thus, statistical features of spontaneous head movements become more symmetrical and less noisy from birth to ∼3 years in children. Because spontaneous movements during sleep in early life may trigger new neuronal activity in the cortex, the key outstanding question for in vivo, non-invasive neuroimaging studies in young children is not “How can we correct head movement better?” but rather: How can we represent all important sources of neuronal activity that shape functional connections in the still-developing human central nervous system?     

Facebook use and sleep quality: Light interacts with socially induced alertness

It has been demonstrated that the use of social networking sites late at night can lead to sleep‐related problems that extend into the next day. A common explanation is that the light emitted from screens is disrupting the users’ circadian rhythms. An alternative explanation is that the social cognition inherent in the use of social networking sites is responsible. Here, the two factors were looked at together. Participants used Facebook on iPad tablets before sleep. This was done on different nights with two lighting conditions and with two levels of content. In the ‘light’ condition, blue wavelength light was manipulated so that it was either full wavelength or blue light filtered. In the ‘alertness’ condition, the personal significance of the content was changed from personally relevant to irrelevant. A modified version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to measure sleep‐related problems. No evidence was found that simply filtering blue light or simply removing relevant content improved sleep quality. However, the two factors interacted. The results suggest that the light emitted from screens can affect sleep quality under some conditions but this is behaviourally irrelevant in the context of normal Facebook usage.     

An assessment of sleep architecture as a function of degree of handedness in college women using a home sleep monitor

The present study examined sleep architecture as a function of handedness in a population of undergraduate college women using a home sleep monitor. Compared to strongly handed individuals, participants with a tendency toward mixed-handedness had a shorter sleep latency and spent a greater percentage of their sleep period asleep and less awake. Increasing mixed-handedness was also associated with increased NREM; strong-handedness was associated with increased REM. Results are placed in a neurophysiological framework wherein corpus callosum mediated differences in interhemispheric interaction during Wake, REM, and NREM on the one hand, and individual differences in corpus callosum morphology and hemispheric communication as a function of handedness on the other, interact to result in handedness differences in sleep architecture.     

Nighttime sleep and physical activity in 6-7 month-old infants

This study examined associations between objectively-measured nighttime sleep duration and physical activity in a sample of 6–7 month-old infants (N=93). The study also investigated relationships between infant sleep and demographic and environmental characteristics. Cross-sectional relationships were assessed using linear regression analyses. Nighttime sleep duration was positively associated with physical activity levels. Nighttime sleep duration was greater when infants had a consistent bedtime, slept in a separate room, were male, and had mothers who reported having a college education or greater. These findings can inform the development of interventions that aim to improve infant sleep.     

Physical activity is positively associated with college students' positive affect regardless of stressful life events during the COVID-19 pandemic

The study was designed to determine associations between physical activity (PA) and affect before and during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and how change in PA predicted change in affect during this time. Before and during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, college students (n = 107) completed assessments of PA, positive and negative affect, sleep quality, food insecurity, and stressful life events (during stay-at-home order only). Total minutes of PA was positively associated with positive affect before (B = 0.01, p < 0.01) and during (B = 0.01, p = 0.01) COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Change in minutes of PA was positively associated with change in positive affect (B = 0.01, p = 0.01). Associations between PA and positive affect were not moderated by stressful life events. PA only predicted negative affect before COVID-19 stay-at-home orders (B = −0.003, p = 0.04). PA appears to enhance positive affect during a global pandemic. Findings have implications for PA as a tool for maintaining or enhancing mental health during a time of trauma and uncertainty.     

The relationship between sleep and working memory in children with neurological conditions

The objective of this study is to investigate whether sleep problems might account for the increased working memory deficits observed in school-aged children with neurological conditions. A novel, transdiagnostic approach to the investigation was chosen, and sleep is treated as a process that can potentially account for working memory difficulties across a range of neurological conditions. Prevalence estimates of sleep problems are also examined. Archival data of 237 children aged 6 to 11 years were collected from a Western Australian statewide neuropsychological service for the period 26 July 2011 to 14 January 2014. Measures of parent-reported sleep quality, snoring, and daytime sleepiness were obtained, in addition to objective measures of verbal and spatial working memory, storage capacity, and processing speed. The results of the data analysis reveal that over one third of participants reported having clinically-significant levels of sleep problems and that poor sleep quality is significantly associated with verbal working memory difficulties. This association remains after partialling out the variance contributed to performance by storage capacity and processing speed, suggesting that sleep is impacting upon an executive component of working memory. No other significant associations are observed. The results suggest that poor sleep quality is associated with an executive component of verbal (rather than spatial) working memory in children with neurological conditions. This has implications for the biological mechanisms thought to underlie the relationship between sleep and cognition in children. The results also demonstrate the clinical utility of a transdiagnostic approach when investigating sleep and cognition in children with neurological conditions.     

The relationship between sleep problems and working memory in children born very preterm

In two studies, the relationship between sleep and working memory performance was investigated in children born very preterm (i.e., gestation less than 32 weeks) and the possible mechanisms underlying this relationship. In Study 1, parent-reported measures of snoring, night-time sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness were collected on 89 children born very preterm aged 6 to 7 years. The children completed a verbal working memory task, as well as measures of processing speed and verbal storage capacity. Night-time sleep quality was found to be associated with verbal working memory performance over and above the variance associated with individual differences in processing speed and storage capacity, suggesting that poor sleep may have an impact on the executive component of working memory. Snoring and daytime sleepiness were not found to be associated with working memory performance. Study 2 introduced a direct measure of executive functioning and examined whether sleep problems would differentially impact the executive functioning of children born very preterm relative to children born to term. Parent-reported sleep problems were collected on 43 children born very preterm and 48 children born to term (aged 6 to 9 years). Problematic sleep was found to adversely impact executive functioning in the very preterm group, while no effect of sleep was found in the control group. These findings implicate executive dysfunction as a possible mechanism by which problematic sleep adversely impacts upon cognition in children born very preterm, and suggest that sleep problems can increase the cognitive vulnerability already experienced by many of these children.