Lab study, 2018
Does menstrual cycle phase affect how sleep loss impacts attention?
Women in the follicular phase had the worst attention during sleep deprivation, especially at night, while women in the luteal phase performed as well as or better than men. This suggests women are more vulnerable to attention problems at certain cycle points.
What they did
Forty women and 84 men aged 18 to 30 years stayed awake for at least 30 hours in a laboratory. Every 2 hours, they took a 10-minute attention test measuring reaction time. Researchers analyzed women in the follicular phase separately from women in the luteal phase.
What they found
Women in the follicular phase showed the worst attention performance, especially at times when people normally sleep. After 24 hours awake, over 60 per cent of their responses were reaction time lapses of more than 500 milliseconds, and over one-third of their responses were longer lapses of at least 3 seconds. Women in the luteal phase performed as well as or better than both follicular-phase women and the men.
What it means for you
Women may be more vulnerable to attention failure from sleep loss during the follicular phase of their cycle, especially at night. This is important for women who work shifts or have irregular sleep. The study only included young adults aged 18 to 30, so it is unclear if findings apply to older women or whether the effect continues throughout reproductive years.
40
women tested
30
hours of wakefulness maintained
over 60%
follicular-phase women's reaction-time lapses over 500ms at 24 hours awake
About the study
- Original title
- Increased vulnerability to attentional failure during acute sleep deprivation in women depends on menstrual phase
- Authors
- Vidafar P, Gooley JJ, Burns AC et al.
- Journal
- Sleep
- Year
- 2018
- Study design
- Lab study
- Participants
- 124
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsy098
Topics
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