Hans P.A. Van Dongen, Modeling the temporal dynamics of neurobehavioral performance impairment due to sleep loss and circadian misalignment

Abstract: The well-known two-process model of sleep regulation makes accurate predictions of sleep timing and duration, as well as neurobehavioral performance, for a variety of acute sleep deprivation and nap sleep scenarios, but it fails to predict the effects of chronic sleep restriction on neurobehavioral performance. The two-process model belongs to a broader class of coupled, non-homogeneous, first-order, ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which can capture the effects of chronic sleep restriction. These equations exhibit a bifurcation, which appears to be an essential feature of performance impairment due to sleep loss. The equations implicate a biological system analogous to two connected compartments containing interacting compounds with time-varying concentrations, such as the adenosinergic neuromodulator/receptor system, as a key mechanism for the regulation of neurobehavioral functioning under conditions of sleep loss. The equations account for dynamic interaction with circadian rhythmicity, and also provide a new approach to dynamically tracking the magnitude of sleep inertia upon awakening from restricted sleep. This presentation will describe the development of the ODE system and its experimental calibration and validation, and will discuss some novel predictions.