Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Agnew, H. W., Jr..
Various experimental studies on sleep are described. The following areas are discussed: (1) effect of altered day length on sleep, (2) effect of a partial loss of sleep on subsequent nocturnal sleep; (3) effect of rigid control over sleep-wake-up times; (4) sleep and wakefulness in a time-free environment; (5) distribution of spindles during a full night of sleep; and (6) effect on sleep and performance of swiftly changing shifts of work.
In the present experiment, rigid control over the sleep and wake-up times was employed in an attempt to contain the natural rhythm to a 24-hr cycle. Eight subjects were isolated from all time and social cues for 10 days. They were placed on a rigid schedule of sleep between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The results indicate that, for practical purposes, the free-running sleep-wakefulness rhythm can be contained to a 24-hr cycle by rigid control of the sleep portion of the cycle. When part of the control was released by allowing the subjects to sleep beyond 7 a.m., they slept an average of 67 min longer and showed sleep latencies which averaged 73 min. From these data it is concluded that control of the sleep portion of the sleep-wakefulness cycle, particularly control of the wake-up time, is sufficient to contain the free-running sleep-wakefulness rhythm to a 24-hr cycle.
The sleep and waking of 14 subjects in time-free environments were studied for 14 days. Half of the subjects had a heavy exercise regime. All subjects exhibited a longer-than-24-hr rhythm, but the groups did not differ from each other in this extension of the rhythm. There were large individual differences between subjects and large variations from the projected sleep and waking times. The overall amount of sleep increased in the environment, and there were marked increases in both shorter and longer sleep and waking period lengths. Exercise did not increase the overall amount of sleep but did increase the variability in the distribution of sleep. The overall distribution of sleep stages during sleep did not differ from baseline measures or between groups.