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This research investigates how baseline sleep timing affects mood during total sleep deprivation and whether mood influences recovery sleep.

May 10, 2026

0199 Bidirectional Predictors Between Baseline and Recovery Sleep and Mood During Total Sleep Deprivation

Key Points

This research investigates how baseline sleep timing affects mood during total sleep deprivation and whether mood influences recovery sleep.
Conducted a five-day experiment with 32 healthy adults (ages 27-53) under controlled conditions.
Participants underwent two baseline 8h time-in-bed nights followed by approximately 39h of total sleep deprivation and two recovery nights.
Used wrist actigraphy and Profile of Mood States assessments to evaluate relationships between sleep metrics and mood subscales.
Later baseline sleep offset predicted lower total mood disturbance (POMS-TMD) with r = −0.419, explaining 13.5%-17.6% of variance.
No significant predictive relationship found for other mood subscales (POMS-V, POMS-C, POMS-A, POMS-D) from baseline sleep metrics.
None of the TSD POMS scores predicted recovery sleep measures.

Abstract

Abstract Introduction We previously reported that later baseline sleep onset and sleep midpoint significantly predicted lower Profile of Mood States-Fatigue (POMS-F) scores during total sleep deprivation (TSD) overall and in females; however, fatigue scores did not significantly predict recovery sleep indices. To extend these findings, we determined whether baseline sleep measures obtained the night before TSD predicted POMS subscales related to affective and somatic (vigor) components during TSD, and whether these subscales predicted sleep measures during recovery. Methods We conducted a five-day experiment under highly controlled conditions in 32 healthy adults (ages 27-53; 14 females) comprised of two baseline 8h time-in-bed (TIB) nights (B1, B2), approximately 39h of TSD, and two recovery nights of 8-10h TIB (R1, R2). The POMS-Vigor (POMS-V), POMS-Tension (POMS-T), POMS-Confusion (POMS-C), POMS-Anger (POMS-A) and POMS-Depression (POMS-D) subscales and the POMS-Total Mood Disturbance (POMS-TMD), which is an aggregate score, were collected at 0400h, 1130h, and 1730h during TSD and each subscale was averaged. Wrist actigraphy assessed sleep indices during the B2 and R1 nights. Simple linear regression assessed predictive relationships between B2 and R1 sleep metrics and TSD POMS subscales. Simple linear regression also was conducted in males and females separately for significant main results. p 0.05 was significant. Results Later B2 sleep offset significantly predicted lower TSD POMS-TMD (r= −0.419; β= −3.891) and lower TSD POMS-T scores (r= −0.368; β= −0.481), explaining 13.5%-17.6% of the variance. B2 sleep offset was not a significant predictor of these scores in males or females separately. By contrast, B2 sleep metrics did not significantly predict TSD POMS-V, POMS-C, POMS-A, or POMS-D scores. Notably, none of the TSD POMS scores significantly predicted R1 actigraphic sleep measures. Conclusion Our novel results demonstrate that sleep timing, specifically later B2 sleep offset, predicted lower POMS-TMD and POMS-T during TSD but did not predict other mood or vigor scores. Of note, when assessed separately by sex, B2 sleep offset was not a significant predictor of TSD POMS-TMD and POMS-T. Furthermore, none of the TSD POMS scores predicted subsequent recovery sleep. Overall, our results underscore crucial relationships and biomarkers between sleep timing and mood in healthy adults. Support (if any) NASA grants NNX14AN49G;80NSSC20K0243 (NG)

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