Neurobehavioral Effects and Biomarkers of Sleep Loss in Healthy Adults

Purpose of Review This article reviews the neurobehavioral deficits resulting from sleep loss in adults, various countermeasures to mitigate these effects, and biomarkers to identify individual differences in neurobehavioral responses. Recent Findings Total sleep deprivation and chronic sleep restriction increase the homeostatic sleep drive and diminish waking neurobehavioral functioning, producing deficits in attention, memory and cognitive speed, increases in sleepiness and fatigue, and unstable wakefulness. Recovery sleep, extension of sleep, and use of caffeine and/or naps are all effective countermeasures to mitigate these responses. Candidate gene and various "omics" approaches have identified biomarkers that may predict such responses. Summary Sleep loss is increasingly prevalent and produces reliable, differential neurobehavioral deficits across individuals. Recent research has identified biomarkers to predict these responses, though future work is warranted, such that precise determination of who will develop neurobehavioral decrements from sleep loss will be possible.