Mini Literature Review: Sleep Deprivation and Body Systems Effects

This mini literature review examines the multifaceted impacts of sleep deprivation on human health. It delves into the adverse effects of insufficient sleep, circadian disruption, and sleep disorders on various body systems. The review synthesizes findings from multiple peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2010 and 2018, exploring the relationship between sleep loss and metabolic processes, including insulin resistance and the risk of diabetes. It also investigates the impact of sleep deprivation on brain function, cognitive performance, mood regulation, and neuro-physiological functions. The review highlights how chronic sleep deprivation can lead to imbalances in cortisol levels and inflammatory markers, as well as impair cognitive abilities and emotional regulation, especially in adolescents. The research employs databases such as CINAHL, MedLine, Google Scholar, Cochrane library and PsycINFO and utilizes key search terms to identify relevant studies. The review concludes by emphasizing the need for increased awareness of the detrimental health consequences of sleep loss and the importance of timely interventions to mitigate potential risks.

Running head: MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
Mini literature review
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Research question:...........................................................................................................................2
Method:............................................................................................................................................2
Literature review:.............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 1

2MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
Mini literature review: ‘Sleep deprivation and its affect on the body’
Introduction:
Sleep deprivation is the problem of not getting enough sleep or restful sleep, which has
adverse consequences for the brain as well as many body systems. The problem of sleep
deprivation is associated with symptoms like drowsiness, brief episode of sleep followed by
awakening, mood changes and difficulty in concentrating. It is also known as circardian
disruption and chronic circardian disruption is associated with increased obesity, mood disorder,
metabolic dysregulation and many other heath issues (McEwen & Karatsoreos 2015, pp. 1-10).
Hence, Sleep deprivation is a serious problem as it affects overall health of an individual. As
sleep deprivation is associated with impaired alertness and psychomotor performance, it impairs
people’s decision making capability (Howard et al. 2014, pp.1-8). For instance, del Angel et al.
(2015, pp.68-74) has showed that sleep deprivation impairs performance of many task, hence
basic cognitive process of affected individual is hampered. People who do not get enough sleep
are also at risk of chronic disease like depression, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Nedeltcheva & Scheer (2014, p. 293) supported the fact that short and poor sleep quality is
highly associated with prevalence of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
All the above evidences reflect the fact that sleep deprivation adversely affect human
body systems. As the problem of sleep deprivation is increasing gradually, there is a need to be
aware about the potential effect of sleep deprivation on the body. This will help to identify
specific strategies needed to prevent risk of health issues for affected individual. Hence, the main
purpose of this literature review is to explore different impact of sleep deprivation on the body
and critically evaluate peer reviewed journal articles on the topic.
Research question:
The main research question for the literature review is ‘How sleep different can have impact
on the body of affected person?’. With this research question, the main objectives of the
literature review are:
 To find out different impact of sleep deprivation on body
 To evaluate how sleep deprivation affects vital functions of the body
 To evaluate impact of sleep deprivation on overall health and well being
Method:
To critically review research article related to the research questions, databases like
CINAHL, MedLine, Google Scholar, Cochrane library and PsycINFO will be searched. Key
search terms used for the literature review includes ‘sleep deprivation in adults’, ‘impact of sleep
deprivation’ and ‘sleep deprivation and impact on the body’. The inclusion criteria for selecting
the articles included:
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 2

3MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
 The articles must be published in English language
 The articles must be published with 2010 to 2018
 All participants in the study must have problem of sleep deprivation
 Studies with sleep loss and sleep disorder will be considered for literature review
In addition, articles which will be talking about other health issues and not sleep deprivation will
not be considered for this literature review.
Literature review:
Sleep loss and sleep disorder is the most readily treatable health problem yet most
frequently overlooked problem too. Many people fail to realize sleep deprivation as a major
health problem and do not seek treatment for it. As sleep deprivation hinders daily functioning
and adversely affects health and longevity, not taking treatment at the right time may inhibit the
possibility of preventing serious public health consequence. Hence, this literature review is
important to raise awareness about the deleterious health impact of sleep loss. The following are
the key insights that have emerged from the review of relevant articles for the topic:
Impact of sleep deprivation on metabolic process of the body
The research by Arble et al. (2015) presented the impact of sleep disruption and sleep
disruption on metabolic function of the body. It showed that circardian disruption is independent
risk factors for insulin resistance and hyperglycemia. The researcher mainly conducted workshop
based study by bringing experts in sleep and circardian research together to understand current
knowledge related to impact of sleep deprivation on metabolic control. The main discussion from
the workshop was summarized in the research article. One of the findings of the study was that
short sleeps increased risk of diabetes as sleep restriction affected molecular mechanism in
peripheral tissues and resulted in alterations to insulin sensitivity within adipocytes. This
ultimately had effect on energy metabolism. High risk of diabetes was also found in affected
people because carcardian disturbance has impact on glucose metabolism. The strength of the
study was that causal relationship between sleep disturbance and metabolic risk was effectively
explained by researchers. The result is also found consistent with other studies as Kim, Jeong &
Hong (2015) also gave evidence regarding impact of sleep disturbance on metabolism and
insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, Arble et al. (2015) was also successful in giving directions for
future research. For instance, it showed that it is necessary to focus on molecular mechanism
linking insufficient sleep and circardian dysfunction as it has not been explored in past research.
Arble et al. (2015, pp. 1849-1860) gave indication of risk of diabetes by linking short
sleeps to alteration in insulin sensitivity. Vetter et al. (2015, pp.1707-1713) gave new insight to
explain about the risk of diabetes due to sleep loss. Arble et al. (2015, pp. 1849-1860) work
mainly associated type 2 diabetes risk with short and long sleep durations, however Vetter et al.
(2015, pp.1707-1713) mainly opined that in addition to sleep duration and frequency, sleep
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 3

4MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
timing may also influence metabolic processes. The work schedule of a person is one factor that
can affect circardian clock. Hence, the study mainly aimed to examine mismatch between sleep
timing and work schedule and its link with type 2 diabetes risk by observing 64, 615 registered
nurses from a Nurse’s Health Study 2 (NHS2). The preferred chronotype of participant was
assessed by use of questions on diurnal preference and exposure to night shift was observed in
participant since 1989 from the NHS 2 study. The participants were also questioned regarding
diagnosis of diabetes. The main insight from the study result was that great interaction was found
between chronotype and shift work exposure. For instance, women who had never worked night
shift had reduced risk of type 2 diabetes if they had early chronotype characteristics. However,
for nurses, who had night shift exposure, late chronotype was associated with high risk of type 2
diabetes. The main significance of the study was that it established chronotype-dependent
association to risk of metabolic disease and such large cohort based study studying about
circardina misalignment was not done so effectively before. However, this study cannot be
totally generalized because late chronotype alone do not determine elevated risk for type 2
diabetes. Unhealthy dietary habits might be responsible for risk of type 2 diabetes too (de
Oliveira Otto et al. 2015).
Review of literatures has also revealed that sleep deprivation has impact on balance of
cortisol, inflammatory markers and cytokine balance. Wright et al. (2015, pp.24-34) focused on
investigating the impact of chronic circardian disruption on cortisol and inflammatory proteins
on health subjects aged between 20-41 years. The participants were subjected to 3 three weeks
normal sleep schedule and then 25 days of sleep deprivation. This experiment proved that
circardian misalignment reduces cortisol level and increases stress in sleep deprived person.
Hence, the study was successful in explaining the reason for impact of sleep deprivation on
cortisol level by explaining about inflammatory imbalances. However, the study also pointed out
to the need of assessing pro and anti-inflammatory proteins to make accurate interpretation
related imbalance.
Effect of sleep deprivation on brain functioning
Apart from physiological functions of the body, chronic sleep deprivation is also known
to effect cognitive performance and brain function of adults. The study by Almklov et al. (2015,
pp. 324-345) aimed to investigate about the effect of total sleep deprivation on brain activation
and behavioral performance in younger and older adults. Research in this area was important
because there was lack of good studies related to effect of sleep loss on brain function in older
adults. The research was done with patient above 59 years old and that between 18-39 years old
and the main focus was to examine the cognitive functions of attention and inhibition in
participant. Researchers examined blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activation in
participants GO-NOGO cognitive task after 36 hrs of sleep deprivation. The GO-NOGO task
involved sustained attention (GO) and response inhibition (NOGO) in cognitive task. The
outcome of the study revealed no difference between in performance on behavioral outcome
measures, however neuro-imaging results showed links between sleep deprivation status and age
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 4

5MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
of participants. This link was established after older adults were found to have greater BOLD
activation compared to younger participant and they performed effectively in GO-NOGO task.
The strength of the study was that the author effectively explained that brain area in the left
posterior cingulate remain active during rest state, however its activity decreases in demanding
task where much concentration is required. Hence, the study gave the idea that adults use
additional cerebral resources to perform cognitive task effectively and with increases age, older
adults have higher brain activation. Despite this result, one factors that limits internal validity of
the study is that healthy older adults were taken for the study, hence it affect generalizability of
the study.
Impact of sleep deprivation on neuro-physiological functions
The above two evidences gave the evidence that metabolic functions of the body and
brain activation function is affected in people who have sleep deprivation and poor sleep
patterns. However, as this literature review is aiming to evaluate different impact of sleep
disruption on body system, one research literature also points out to the impact of sleep
deprivation on mood of the affected person. Baum et al. (2014, pp.180-190) focused on the issue
of sleep disruption mainly in adolescent because they sleep less than eight hours on school
nights. The problem worsens not only because of early school start time but also because of late
bedtime routine. As there was lack of consistency in past research regarding consequences of
short sleep on psychological harm, Baum et al. (2014, pp.180-190) aimed to examine the impact
of shortened night sleep on adolescent’s mood and emotional regulation capability. Health
adolescents between 14-18 years were included for the study and all had to go through three
week sleep manipulation protocol given and the details of the program is given in Figure 1
below. Sleep monitoring was done through actigraph and mood assessment was done by Profile
of Mood States tool. The result of the study showed that adolescents were had greater feelings of
anxiety, fatigue and confusion during sleep restriction condition compared to health sleep
condition. Poor emotional regulation was also found during sleep restriction period. Hence, the
study confirmed that sleep restriction adversely affects mood and emotional regulation capability
of youth. The strength of the study is that it affirmed that severe duration of sleep restriction can
worsen mood of adolescents. However, one limitation found in the study is that it restricted
finding out other sleep environment factors that may affect sleep as it used actigraph to measure
sleep duration.
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 5

6MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
.
Figure 1: Design Chart of Sleep manipulation protocol Source: (Baum et al. 2014, pp.180-190)
Klumpers et al. (2015) also contributed useful information regarding effect of total sleep
deprivation (TSD) on stress regulating brain systems. This study is useful for this literature
review because unlike the above evidence, this study did research in adults. Klumpers et al.
(2015) examined induction of fatigue and mood changes in sleep deprived person by examining
changes in stress regulating brain systems fMRI based study. In response to the hypothesis of
increase in dopamine release and cortisol awakening response due to TSD, the study showed that
sleep deprivation induces neuro-physiological and endocrine changes in the brain. However, one
limitation of the study was that dopaminergic system effect was not properly estimated and this
gives direction for future research opportunities.
Conclusion:
The main purpose of the literature review was to explore different impact of sleep
deprivation on body function. Conducting literature review in their area was considered
important as sleep deprivation is becoming highly prevalent in adults now and seriously affecting
health and longevity. The results from the literature review clearly gave the indication that
metabolic functions, mood regulation and brain functions of individual is seriously affected
when people circardian rhythm is disrupted. Considering the serious adverse effect of sleep
deprivation on body system and health of affected individual, there is a need to make people
aware about the important of health sleep routine and maintaining them in life to promote their
health and well-being.
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 6

7MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
Reference
Almklov, EL Drummond, SP Orff, H & Alhassoon, OM 2015, ‘The effects of sleep deprivation
on brain functioning in older adults’, Behavioral sleep medicine, 13(4), 324-345.
Arble, DM, Bass, J Behn, CD Butler, MP Challet, E Czeisler, C ... & Hanlon, EC 2015, ‘Impact
of sleep and circadian disruption on energy balance and diabetes: a summary of workshop
discussions’, Sleep, 38(12), pp. 1849-1860.
Baum, KT Desai, A Field, J Miller, LE Rausch, J & Beebe, DW 2014, ‘Sleep restriction worsens
mood and emotion regulation in adolescents’, Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 55(2), pp.180-190.
de Oliveira Otto, MC Padhye, NS Bertoni, AG Jacobs Jr, DR & Mozaffarian, D 2015,
‘Everything in moderation-dietary diversity and quality, central obesity and risk of diabetes’,
PloS one, 10(10), p.e0141341.
del Angel, J Cortez, J Juárez, D Guerrero, M García, A Ramírez, C &Valdez, P 2015, ‘Effects of
sleep reduction on the phonological and visuospatial components of working memory’, Sleep
Science, 8(2), pp.68-74.
Howard, ME Jackson, ML Berlowitz, D O’Donoghue, F Swann, P Westlake, J Wilkinson, V &
Pierce, RJ 2014, ‘Specific sleepiness symptoms are indicators of performance impairment during
sleep deprivation’, Accident Analysis & Prevention, 62, pp.1-8.
Kim, TW Jeong, JH & Hong, SC 2015, ‘The impact of sleep and circadian disturbance on
hormones and metabolism’, International journal of endocrinology, 2015.
Klumpers, UM Veltman, DJ van Tol, MJ Kloet, RW Boellaard, R Lammertsma, AA &
Hoogendijk, WJ 2015, ‘Neurophysiological effects of sleep deprivation in healthy adults, a pilot
study’, PloS one, 10(1), p.e0116906.
McEwen, BS & Karatsoreos, IN 2015, ‘Sleep deprivation and circadian disruption’ Sleep
medicine clinics, 10(1), 1-10.
Nedeltcheva, AV & Scheer, FA, 2014, ‘Metabolic effects of sleep disruption, links to obesity
and diabetes’, Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity, 21(4), p.293.
Vetter, C Devore, EE Ramin, C.A., Speizer, F.E., Willett, W.C. & Schernhammer, E.S., 2015,
‘Mismatch of sleep and work timing and risk of type 2 diabetes’, Diabetes Care, 38(9), pp.1707-
1713.
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 7

8MINI LITERATURE REVIEW
Wright, K.P., Drake, A.L., Frey, D.J., Fleshner, M., Desouza, C.A., Gronfier, C. & Czeisler,
C.A., 2015, ‘Influence of sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment on cortisol, inflammatory
markers, and cytokine balance’, Brain, behavior, and immunity, 47, pp.24-34.
Name Student Id: Unit Code: Assessment Title: Page 8