Effects of Sleep Deprivation and Reversal of Diurnal Activity on Protein Metabolism of Young Men

Abstract

In the present study the effects of sleeplessness and sudden reversal of the diurnal sleep pattern on protein metabolism and protein requirements were studied. Six male university students, aged nineteen to twenty-four, were studied during two days without sleep and for four days afterwards. Nineteen similar subjects, aged nineteen to twenty-seven, were subjected to two to seven days of work and meals on a reversed diurnal pattern, following 24 hours of sleep deprivation. Of these, one group of nine students was followed for nine days after returning to a normal diurnal pattern. A constant amount of a liquid formula diet was fed throughout the studies and complete urine collections were obtained. Deprivation of sleep for 24 hours, whether a prelude to a reversal of diurnal pattern or to further sleeplessness, resulted in retention of nitrogen, sodium and water, and a decrease in pulse rate and body temperature. The principal finding was an average increase of 7 per cent in nitrogen excretion on the second day of sleeplessness. The findings on the first day of diurnal reversal did not differ significantly from the preceding sleepless day, but on the second day of reversal there was an average increase in nitrogen excretion of 5 per cent. Maximum individual responses were a 20 per cent increase in nitrogen excretion on the day following sleep deprivation and a 10 per cent average increase for five days following sleep reversal.