Social behaviour of the slender Loris (Loris tardigradus lydekkerianus)

The social behaviour of the nocturnal prosimian Loris tardigradus lydekkerianus in its natural habitat was studied for 21 months in a scrub jungle in Dindigul, southern India. A total of 22834 scans were collected during 2656 hours of observation on identified and unidentified lorises. Social interactions were observed between individuals of all age-sex classes, both during the night and at dawn, when the animals met to sleep together. The majority of aggressive encounters between individuals occurred in territorial and mating contexts. Individuals also communicated with each other through chemical and vocal signals. Adults and sub-adults of both sexes were observed to immigrate into the study area, leading to social interactions with resident individuals.     

Somnology and sleep medicine in Russia

The study of human vital functions during sleep using accurate devices can have advantage over studies during wakefulness because sleep potentially is a more predictable condition. In addition, the factors accompanying sleep (minimization of external stimulation and social interactions, low mental activity, anti-gravity posture) also increase the quality of data compared to states of wakefulness. Properly organized clinical investigations on the concept of sleep as medicine will reveal these advantages and increase the interest in studies on sleep from the community and authorities. This can also promote investigations in the field of fundamental somnology in Russia.     

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Modern zoos strive to improve standards of animal management, husbandry and welfare of their animals as part of a continual evaluation process. Elephants (Elephantidae) have received particular attention in recent years due to the challenge of providing environments which promote natural behavior and opportunities for social interaction. A number of measures have been proposed to measure wellbeing, with sleep quality increasingly being used. Sleep is a vital aspect of life for cell replenishment as well as optimal development of young. Sleep deprivation can lead to immunosuppression and illness; therefore animal managers have a responsibility to ensure they reduce the potential for disturbance through noise, light, or other environmental factors. The social environment also plays an essential role in wellbeing, particularly for species that live in multi-generational family units. In this study the nocturnal behavior of a multi-generational captive herd was observed to determine impacts of husbandry changes on sleep duration and bout length (measured as recumbent rest). As expected, average total duration of sleep was higher in younger elephants and rates were comparable to those reported in other studies of Asian elephants. Overnight access to an outdoor paddock in warmer weather increased overall average bout length of sleep in the herd. Average total duration of sleep also increased for the herd following the movement of an unrelated adult female who had previously shown weak bonds with other herd members. This indicates that social compatibility is a vital component of elephant welfare, impacting not only behavioral interactions but sleep quality and duration.     

Effect of social media use on learning,social interactions,and sleep duration among university students

BackgroundSocial networking sites are widely used by university students. This study investigated the purposes for which social networking sites are used and their effects on learning, social interaction, and sleep duration.Material and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 300, 17–29-year-old female students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Chi-squared (Fisher’s exact test) test was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe results showed that 97% of the students used social media applications. Only 1% of them used social media for academic purposes. Whereas 35% of them used these platforms to chat with others, 43% of them browsed these sites to pass time. Moreover, 57% of them were addicted to social media. Additionally, 52% of them reported that social media use had affected their learning activities, 66% of them felt more drawn toward social media than toward academic activities, and 74% of them spent their free time on social media platforms. The most popular applications (i.e., based on usage) were Snapchat (45%), Instagram (22%), Twitter (18%), and WhatsApp (7%). Further, 46% and 39% of them reported going to bed between 11 pm and 12 am and between 1 am and 2 am, respectively. Finally, 68% of them attributed their delayed bedtime to social media use, and 59% of them reported that social media had affected their social interactions.ConclusionsA majority of the participants reported prolonged use of social networking sites for nonacademic purposes. These habitual behaviors can distract students from their academic work, adversely affect their academic performance, social interactions, and sleep duration, and lead to a sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity, which in turn can render them vulnerable to non-communicable diseases and mental health problems.     

Is the shift in chronotype associated with an alteration in well-being?

The study aimed to test whether a shift in chronotype (determined by mid-sleep on free days) is associated with alterations in psychological well-being and sleep parameters. One hundred and seventeen undergraduates were tested in longitudinal study with four repeated measures. Measurements were taken during spring in three-week intervals and each measurement consisted of self-reported sleep parameters on work and free days (i.e. bedtime, sleep latency, wake time, sleep onset, mid-sleep time, social jetlag), satisfaction with life, and mood (energetic arousal, tense arousal, hedonic tone). Between-subjects analyses revealed earlier chronotypes, as compared to the later ones, showing lower tense arousal, higher energetic arousal and life satisfaction, earlier bedtime, sleep onset and offset on both work and free days, longer sleep duration and shorter sleep latency on workdays, and less social jetlag. Within-subjects analyses revealed increasing photoperiod associated with a shift toward earlier chronotype, decrease in social jetlag, and shortening sleep latency. The seasonal shift toward earlier chronotype was not associated with alterations in mood or life satisfaction, but it was associated with a shift toward earlier bedtimes and longer sleep duration on workdays, decrease in sleep latency, and social jetlag. Results from the within-subjects analyses were consistent with the results of between-subjects analyses regarding sleep–wake functioning, but inconsistent regarding psychological outcomes.     

Social Stressors at Work,Sleep, and Recovery

Many employees in service work are required to work on Saturdays, recovering during work-free Sundays and working again Mondays. We examined the effects of social stressors at work on recovery status at Sunday noon and Monday noon, and investigated if sleep quality mediates the negative effects of social stressors at work on recovery. From Saturday until Monday morning, 41 participants wore actigraphs to measure sleep duration and sleep fragmentation. Social stressors at work were assessed by self-reported questionnaires administered on Saturday. Recovery status was reported Sunday noon and Monday noon. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that social stressors at work were negatively related to recovery status on Sunday and on Monday. Supporting our assumptions, more social stressors at work predicted higher sleep fragmentation in the night to Monday. A mediation effect of sleep quality, however, was not found. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

焦虑、抑郁及社会支持情况对短暂性脑缺血发作患者睡眠的影响

目的:讨论焦虑、抑郁和社会支持情况对短暂性脑缺血患者睡眠的影响情况。方法:将2012年1月至2014年1月于我院治疗的164名短暂性脑缺血患者为研究对象,采用社会支持评定量表SSRS、自评焦虑量表SAS、匹兹堡睡眠指数PSQI及自评抑郁量表SDS评估病人的抑郁、焦虑与社会支持情况对患者的影响,并分析相关性。在对患者进行一个月的治疗过程中,对伴有焦虑及抑郁症状的患者给予盐酸舍曲林片,并考察药物治疗对患者睡眠质量的影响情况。结果:164名患者中出现焦虑的几率为37.4%,出现抑郁的几率为18.9%,二者同时出现的几率为12.8%,存在睡眠障碍的患者约占68.4%,匹兹堡睡眠指数与自评焦虑量指数、自评抑郁量指数与社会支持评定量的主观支持与患者对支持和利用得分均存在相关性(r=0.66、0.53、-0.39,-0.40,P0.05),且差异有统计学意义。对采集的数据进行多因素回归分析,结果显示,焦虑、抑郁、社会主观支持和患者对支持的利用度是影响睡眠的重要因素。通过Logistic回归分析,结果显示患者对支持利用度的增加及自评焦虑量指数、自评抑郁量指数与发作次数的减少有利于改善患者的睡眠障碍(OR=0.221、2.412、1.938、0.321,P0.05)。结论:抑郁、焦虑和社会支持是导致短暂性脑缺血患者存在睡眠障碍的重要因素,对三者情况进行改善可辅助药物治疗,改善患者睡眠质量。     

Case study of circadian rhythm sleep disorder following haloperidol treatment: reversal by risperidone and melatonin

A patient with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome treated with haloperidol, ingested once daily after awakening from sleep, exhibited an irregular sleep-wake pattern with a free-running component of approximately 48 h. Transfer to risperidone, ingested once daily after awakening from sleep, was beneficial resulting in a sleep-wake cycle more synchronized at the appropriate phase to the external zeitgebers, and fewer nocturnal disturbances. The circadian sleep-wake schedule was fully synchronized when the patient had been subsequently treated with melatonin at 21:00h, before intended nocturnal sleep, in addition to risperidone in the morning. Restoration of the sleep-wake circadian pattern was accompanied by the patient's subjective report of significant improvement in his quality of life, social interactions, and occupational status. This observation suggests that circadian rhythm sleep disorders can be related to the typical neuroleptic haloperidol and restored by the atypical neuroleptic risperidone. Similar findings reported in patients suffering from other disorders support the hypothesis that the described disruption of the sleep-wake schedule is medication rather than illness-related. Therefore, it is very important to realize that circadian rhythm sleep disorders may be a side effect of neuroleptics.     

Implications for Social Support on Prolonged Sleep Difficulties among a Disaster-Affected Population: Second Report from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Ishinomaki,Japan

Study Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the role of social factors, especially social support for sleep, among victims living at home around 1–2 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Design

A cross-sectional household survey was conducted between May and December 2012 (14–21 months after the disaster) in the Ishinomaki area, Japan. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the association between social factors, including social support, and prolonged sleep difficulties (persisting over 1 month). Social support was divided into three functions: emotional, informational, and instrumental support.

Participants

Data were obtained on 2,593 individuals who were living at home after the disaster.

Results

The prevalence of prolonged sleep difficulties was 6.9% (5.8% male, 7.7% female). This study showed that lack of social support has a stronger association with prolonged sleep difficulties than non-modifiable or hardly modifiable consequences caused directly by the disaster, i.e., severity of home damage, change in family structure and income. Among the three dimensions of social support, lack of emotional support showed the strongest association with prolonged sleep difficulties.

Conclusions

Social support, especially emotional support, may positively affect sleep among victims living at home around 1–2 years after a disaster.     

Social jetlag affects subjective daytime sleepiness in school-aged children and adolescents: A study using the Japanese version of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS-J)

The aim of this study was to elucidate the level of daytime sleepiness in Japanese school-aged children and adolescents, and to examine associated factors including sleep loss and social jetlag using the Japanese version of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS-J). After the linguistic validation of the PDSS-J with a multi-step translation methodology, consisting of forward translation, back translation, expert review and cognitive debriefing interviews, we conducted a psychometric validation for 492 students aged 11–16 years (46.7% boys) of public elementary school, junior high school and high school, using the PDSS-J, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), and bedtimes and wake-up times on school days and free days. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the PDSS-J was 0.77, and the test–retest reliability demonstrated by the intraclass coefficient was 0.88. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both short sleep duration and social jetlag were identified as factors associated with daytime sleepiness, after adjustment for age and sex. PDSS-J scores were significantly higher in the group with large social jetlag with or without sufficient sleep duration than in the group with sufficient sleep duration and small social jetlag. The PDSS-J is an important tool for assessing daytime sleepiness, given its ease of administration and robust psychometric properties. The impact of not only sleep loss but also social jetlag on daytime sleepiness among school-aged children and adolescents must be fully taken into account.     

孤独症儿童生存质量、睡眠质量现状调查及睡眠障碍的影响因素分析

摘要 目的：分析孤独症儿童生存质量、睡眠质量现状,探讨其睡眠障碍的影响因素。方法：选择2017年1月至2019年12月期间我院收治的孤独症儿童100例作为研究组,另选同期于我院进行体检的健康儿童100例作为对照组,分别应用生存质量简易量表、社会支持评定量表、儿童睡眠质量调查问卷调查两组生存质量、社会支持情况、睡眠质量。应用单因素及多因素Logistic回归分析孤独症儿童睡眠障碍的影响因素。结果：研究组儿童生存质量简易量表的主观标准评分、客观标准评分及社会支持评定量表的主观支持评分、客观支持评分、对社会支持的利用度评分、总分均显著低于对照组（P＜0.05）。研究组入睡困难、睡眠不安、间断睡眠、夜惊、夜间尿床、打鼾、梦呓、梦游、张口呼吸、夜间磨牙、睡眠出汗发生率均显著高于对照组（P＜0.05）,两组梦魇发生率比较无统计学差异（P>0.05）。研究组患儿中存在睡眠障碍的46例,无睡眠障碍的54例。单因素分析显示,睡眠障碍组父母关系差、家族精神病史、新生儿窒息史、出生体重<2500 g比例显著高于无睡眠障碍组（P＜0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析显示,父母关系差、有家族精神疾病史、有新生儿期窒息史、出生体重<2500 g是孤独症儿童睡眠障碍的危险因素（P＜0.05）。结论：与健康儿童相比,孤独症儿童生存质量、社会支持情况较差,睡眠障碍发生率也较高,父母关系差、有家族精神疾病史、有新生儿期窒息史、出生体重<2500 g是孤独症儿童睡眠障碍的危险因素。     

Time-of-day mediates the influences of extended wake and sleep restriction on simulated driving

Although a nonlinear time-of-day and prior wake interaction on performance has been well documented, two recent studies have aimed to incorporate the influences of sleep restriction into this paradigm. Through the use of sleep-restricted forced desynchrony protocols, both studies reported a time-of-day × sleep restriction interaction, as well as a time-of-day × prior wake × sleep dose three-way interaction. The current study aimed to investigate these interactions on simulated driving performance, a more complex task with ecological validity for the problem of fatigued driving. The driving performance of 41 male participants (mean?±?SD: 22.8 ±2.2 yrs) was assessed on a 10-min simulated driving task with the standard deviation of lateral position (SDLAT) measured. Using a between-group design, participants were subjected to either a control condition of 9.33 h of sleep/18.66 h of wake, a moderate sleep-restriction (SR) condition of 7 h of sleep/21 h of wake, or a severe SR condition of 4.66 h of sleep/23.33 h of wake. In each condition, participants were tested at 2.5-h intervals after waking across 7 × 28-h d of forced desynchrony. Driving sessions occurred at nine doses of prior wake, within six divisions of the circadian cycle based on core body temperature (CBT). Mixed-models analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed significant main effects of time-of-day, prior wake, sleep debt, and sleep dose on SDLAT. Additionally, significant two-way interactions of time-of-day × prior wake and time-of-day × sleep debt, as well as significant three-way interactions of time-of-day × prior wake × sleep debt and time-of-day × sleep debt × sleep dose were observed. Although limitations such as the presence of practice effects and large standard errors are noted, the study concludes with three findings. The main effects demonstrate that extending wake, reducing sleep, and driving at poor times of day all significantly impair driving performance at an individual level. In addition to this, combining either extended wake or a sleep debt with the early morning hours greatly decreases driving performance. Finally, operating under the influence of a reduced sleep dose can greatly decrease performance at all times of the day.     

Age-related reduction in the maximal capacity for sleep--implications for insomnia

Sleep changes markedly across the life span and complaints about insomnia are prevalent in older people [1]. Whether age-related alterations in sleep are due to modifications in social factors, circadian physiology, homeostatic drive, or the ability to sleep remains unresolved. We assessed habitual sleep duration at home and then quantified daytime sleep propensity, sleep duration, and sleep structure in an inpatient protocol that included extended sleep opportunities covering 2/3 of the circadian cycle (12 hr at night and 4 hr in the afternoon) for 3-7 days in 18 older and 35 younger healthy men and women. At baseline, older subjects had less daytime sleep propensity than did younger subjects. Total daily sleep duration, which was initially longer than habitual sleep duration, declined during the experiment to asymptotic values that were 1.5 hr shorter in older (7.4 +/- 0.4 SEM, hour) than in younger subjects (8.9 +/- 0.4). Rapid-eye-movement sleep and non-rapid-eye-movement sleep contributed about equally to this reduction. Thus, in the absence of social and circadian constraints, both daytime sleep propensity and the maximal capacity for sleep are reduced in older people. These data have important implications for understanding age-related insomnia.     

Aging worsens the effects of sleep deprivation on postural control

Falls increase with age and cause significant injuries in the elderly. This study aimed to determine whether age modulates the interactions between sleep deprivation and postural control and to evaluate how attention influences these interactions in the elderly. Fifteen young (24±2.7 y.o.) and 15 older adults (64±3.2 y.o.) stood still on a force plate after a night of sleep and after total sleep deprivation. Center of pressure range and velocity were measured with eyes open and with eyes closed while participants performed an interference task, a control task, and no cognitive task. Sleep deprivation increased the antero-posterior range of center of pressure in both age groups and center of pressure speed in older participants only. In elderly participants, the destabilizing effects of sleep deprivation were more pronounced with eyes closed. The interference task did not alter postural control beyond the destabilization induced by sleep loss in older subjects. It was concluded that sleep loss has greater destabilizing effects on postural control in older than in younger participants, and may therefore increase the risk of falls in the elderly.     

Somnogenic cytokines and models concerning their effects on sleep

All the sleep-promoting substances currently identified also have other biological activities. Despite years of effort, a single specific central nervous system sleep center has not been described. These observations led us to propose a biochemical model of a sleep activational system in which the effects of several sleep factors are integrated into a regulatory scheme. These sleep factors interact by altering the metabolism, production, or activity of each other and thereby result in multiple feedback loops. This web of interactions leads to sleep stability in that minor challenges to the system will not greatly alter sleep. The system, however, is responsive to strong perturbations, such as sleep deprivation and infectious disease. The sleep-promoting effects of cytokines and their interactions with prostaglandins and the neuroendocrine system are used to illustrate the functioning of a part of the sleep activational system under normal conditions and during infectious disease. Although the actions of individuals sleep factors are not specific to sleep, their interactions at various levels of the neuraxis can mediate a specific sleep response. Such a system would also be responsive to the autonomic and environmental parameters that alter sleep.     

Representation of the self in REM and NREM dreams.

The authors hypothesized that representations of the Self (or the dreamer) in dreams would change systematically, from a prereflective form of Self to more complex forms, as a function of both age and sleep state (REM vs. non-REM). These hypotheses were partially confirmed. While the authors found that all the self-concept-related dream content indexes derived from the Hall/Van de Castle dream content scoring system did not differ significantly between the dreams of children and adults, adult Selves were more likely to engage in "successful" social interactions. The Self never acted as aggressor in NREM dream states and was almost always the befriender in friendly interactions in NREM dreams. Conversely, the REM-related dream Self preferred aggressive encounters. Our results suggests that while prereflective forms of Self are the norm in children's dreams, two highly complex forms of Self emerge in REM and NREM dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evening chronotype,late weekend sleep times and social jetlag as possible causes of sleep curtailment after maintaining perennial DST: ain’t they as black as they are painted?

ABSTRACT

People sleep less in response to setting social clocks earlier relative to the sun clocks. We proposed here a model-based approach for estimating sleep loss as the difference between weekend and weekday risetimes divided on the difference between weekend risetime and weekday bedtime. We compared this approach with a traditional approach to estimating sleep curtailment as the difference in weekly average sleep duration in two conditions. Weekday and weekend sleep times reported for 320 samples provided possibility of testing whether evening types with later weekend sleep times and larger social jetlag differ from morning types with earlier weekend sleep times and smaller social jetlag on amount of sleep lost (1) throughout the week and (2) in response to an advance of weekday wakeups, for instance, after the expected installation of perennial Daylight Saving Time (DST). We found that (1) an amount of sleep lost due to advancing shift of weekday wakeups depends upon neither chronotype nor weekend sleep times nor social jetlag, (2) a very large amount of sleep is usually lost by evening types with later weekend sleep times and larger social jetlag and (3) an essential sleep loss is caused by our usual work/school schedules, even in morning types with early weekend sleep times and small social jetlag. As compared to such permanent sleep losses experienced by any types, an additional loss due to switching from Standard Time (ST) to perennial DST are expected to be relatively small. We also found that the traditional way of calculation of sleep curtailment leads to paradoxical conclusions, such as (1) sleep loss is larger when social jetlag is smaller, not larger, (2) sleep loss is larger when weekend sleep times are earlier, not later, (3) despite 1-h difference between two student samples in weekday wakeups, their sleep losses can be identical.     

Individual differences in rhythms of behavioral sleep and its neural substrates in Nile grass rats

Laboratory populations of grass rats (Arvicanthis niloticus) housed with a running wheel show considerable variation in patterns of locomotor activity. At the extremes are "day-active" (DA) animals with a monophasic distribution of running throughout the light phase and "night-active" (NA) animals exhibiting a biphasic pattern with an extended peak at the beginning of the dark phase and a brief peak shortly before lights-on. Here, the authors use this intraspecific variation to explore interactions between circadian and homeostatic influences on sleep and the effects of these interactions on the activity of brain regions involved in sleep regulation. Male animals were singly housed with running wheels in a 12:12 LD cycle, videotaped for 24 h, and perfused at ZT 4 or 16. Behavioral sleep was scored from the videotapes, and brains were processed for cFos immunoreactivity (cFos-ir). Sleep duration within the light and dark phases was higher in NA and DA animals, respectively, but these groups did not differ with respect to total sleep. In both groups, sleep bouts were shortest in the light phase and longest between ZT 20 and ZT 23. In the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO), cFos-ir was higher at ZT 16 than at ZT 4 in DA but not NA grass rats, and it was correlated with behavioral sleep at ZT 16 but not ZT 4. In OXA neurons, cFos-ir was high at ZT 4 in DA grass rats and at ZT 16 in NA grass rats, and it was correlated with behavioral sleep at both times. In the lower subparaventricular zone (LSPV), cFos-ir was higher at ZT 16 in both DA and NA animals, and it was unrelated to behavioral sleep. Thus, patterns of cFos-ir in the LSPV and OXA neurons were most tightly linked to time and sleep, respectively, whereas cFos-ir in the VLPO was influenced by an interaction between these 2 variables.     

Effects of sports training on sleep characteristics of Asian adolescent athletes

Adolescents are predisposed to poorer quality of sleep and experience shortened sleep durations, with these trends being more pronounced amongst Asians. Even though sleep is crucial for athletic recovery, there is a dearth of the literature on the sleep patterns of Asian adolescent athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different intensities of sports training on sleep patterns in adolescent athletes, and to describe novel sleep data and daytime sleepiness amongst Asian adolescents who were high-level athletes. Those athletes (age 14.8 ± 0.9 years) in higher-intensity sports showed significantly more deep sleep, less light sleep and waketime after sleep onset. Actigraphically determined bedtimes and waketimes were significantly delayed on weekends, when mean total sleep time was also significantly longer. There was a large effect for an increased daytime sleepiness in high-intensity sport athletes. These findings highlight the phenomenon of social jet lag in Asian adolescent student-athletes.