No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Sleep concerns are prevalent and can have a detrimental impact on the overall functioning of an individual. Nightmares, specifically, have been tied to a myriad of adverse mental health outcomes and are known to exacerbate other medical/mental health symptoms. Further, nightmares appear to persist after treatment of other concerns such as posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. Although many treatments exist for nightmare disorder and posttraumatic nightmares, only Imagery Rehearsal Therapy has continuously been cited as first line treatment (Morgenthaler et al., 2018). Mobile health (mHealth) technology has emerged as a viable avenue for exploration in the mental health field as technological advances are becoming commonplace in integration of clinical practice to increase accessibility. Research suggests that using mobile modalities may be a feasible way to provide sleep interventions; however, research has yet to fully explore this possibility. This project assessed a mobile application called Dream EZ released by the National Center for Telehealth and Technology, which is based on Imagery Rehearsal Therapy, but has yet to conduct research on its effectiveness. The primary purposes of this project were to (1) explore the effectiveness of smartphone-based mHealth application treatment (Dream EZ) in reduction of psychological symptoms as compared to waitlist control and (2) evaluate adherence and acceptability of treatment via smartphone application. Findings from the study support use of mHealth nightmare treatment for nightmares distress reduction (main effect: p =.010, d = .53; interaction: p =.145, d = .30). Results regarding effectiveness of mHealth treatment were inconclusive as analyses were underpowered in relation to reduction of PTSD symptoms (main effect: p =.415, d = .17; interaction: p = .262, d = .23) and suicidality (main effect: p =.007, d = .57; interaction: p =.758, d = .07). Treatment adherence and acceptability were not significantly associated with nightmare symptom reduction. Although some hypotheses were underpowered, the strength of this study laid in its use of a randomized control trial hybrid-2 study design and its timely look at viability of technology use in clinical treatment. Future directions include replication within a clinical population and in various settings such as primary care clinics.

With increasing age there is a decline in cognitive functions, including episodic memory and executive functioning. This decline is thought to be related to changes in sleep, as sleep quality and quantity also decline with aging. Physical activity is a promising tool that has been found to increase both sleep and cognition in older adults. Physical activity has been shown to protect executive functions against poor sleep in older adults. However, it is unknown if physical activity also helps to protect memory against poor sleep, and if this relationship differs by age. The present study investigated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, sleep, and memory in both older and young adults. Twenty-six older adults (M ± SD: 70.7 ± 2.8) and thirty-five young adults (M ± SD: 21.0 ± 3.1) completed the Rockport 1-mile walk test to measure cardiorespiratory fitness. Participants wore an actigraph for one week to measure habitual sleep, and returned for a second visit to perform tasks assessing episodic memory and executive functioning. An interaction was found between sleep quality and cardiorespiratory fitness (p = .021), in that sleep enhanced memory for low fit older adults (p = .047) but not for high fit older adults (p = .19). Sleep also predicted executive functioning performance in older adults (p = .007), but this association was observed regardless of cardiorespiratory fitness. No significant relationships were observed between cardiorespiratory fitness, sleep, and cognition in young adults. Overall, these results suggest the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and sleep may differ for episodic memory and executive functions. Given that these aspects of cognition are supported by different underlying neurological processes, fitness and sleep may provide complementary support for the aging brain. Future research should further investigate the underlying mechanism for the relationship between sleep, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cognition. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Headache pain impacts most of the population at some point in life, at an enormous cost to day-to-day functioning. Determination of the variables that are associated with prevalence and severity of headaches has been inconsistent. One area that deserves more attention is the relationship between headaches and sleep. For instance, several sleep parameters may precipitate or exacerbate headaches, but previous research often used inconsistent and limited assessments of both headaches and sleep, making results difficult to interpret and compare. The current study seeks to extend previous research by using more comprehensive and empirically validated assessment techniques to study the relationship between sleep and headaches in a healthy sample. Greater self-reported sleep quality is related to lower headache frequency and severity, and lower self-reported sleep quality is characteristic of individuals having migraine-type headaches. Greater sleep efficiency is related to lower headache severity and shorter headache duration. Greater sleep onset latency is related to longer headache duration and greater headache severity. Greater number of nighttime awakenings is related to greater headache severity and is characteristic of individuals having a diagnosable headache disorder (either tension-type or migraine-type). Stress appeared to be a partial mediator between self-reported sleep quality and headache severity. Further experimental studies may clarify causality between sleep and headache.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF), Edwards Air Force Base, California, is the largest anechoic military test facility in the world for testing developmental and operational electromagnetic equipment. Supervisors must often extend employees' work hours considerably in order to meet mission (i.e., test) timelines. Supervisors at the BAF currently have no accurate means of identifying when an employee's work performance is at risk of decreasing due to sleep deprivation, unbalanced circadian rhythms, and/or fatigue. Therefore, the focus of this research was to create a method for supervisors to effectively gauge the work performance levels of employees placed at risk for sleep deprivation. Thus, individual sleep data were collected for one week on eight volunteers at the BAF using assigned sleep monitoring devices known as Actigraphs. Extensive questionnaires were developed to determine volunteers' sleep pattern, demographics, and sleep history. For analysis purposes, the Fast Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FAST), based on the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness (SAFTE) model was used to determine how the performance level of each volunteer differed based on the amount of sleep acquired. The results demonstrated that as the week progressed and the volunteers' sleep decreased, the effectiveness of their work performance correspondingly decreased to a level where the safety of the test and the volunteers were both at risk. / Civilian, United States Air Force

The first night effect (FNE) has been described as a phenomenon that affects sleep quality as measured by objective parameters by polysomnography (PSG) tests that show decreased sleep efficiency, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, total sleep time and increased sleep latencies and REM latencies. Music therapy has been an effective tool in treating anxiety in a number of patient populations as well as helping patients improve sleep quality when measured by questionnaires administered pre and post intervention. It is hypothesized that music therapy may help alleviate the FNE by improving sleep quality and the current study investigates this music intervention by observing objective parameters through PSG. A total of ninety-eight subjects completed the study of determining effectiveness of intervention in a recently constructed sleep laboratory at Boston Medical Center. Results have shown that there are no significant improvements in the sleep parameters investigated: sleep latency, sleep efficient, non-REM sleep, REM sleep, REM latency, time spent awake after initial sleep onset, arousal index, and total sleep time in the total population examined. Men and subjects that did not receive night-time respiratory treatments showed longer REM latencies when an intervention was involved. At this time, there is no reason to suggest that music therapy can help improve sleep quality on the first night in sleep laboratories when sleep quality is assessed using objective parameters. Further studies investigating anxiety levels and looking at particular patient populations on the first night pre and post music intervention may help determine the true efficacy of music intervention in helping lessen the FNE.

No description available.

Sleep deprivation has been studied for over a century, providing knowledge about the benefits of sleep for many physiological, cognitive, and behavioural functions. However, there have only been anecdotal indications about what a tired or sleep-deprived person looks like, despite the fact that appearance influences not only how other people perceive a person but also how they evaluate them and behave towards them. How someone with sleep loss is perceived and evaluated by others is the focus of this thesis. Facial photographs of 48 participants were taken after normal sleep and after either one night of total sleep deprivation or two nights of partial sleep deprivation. The photographs were then evaluated in four different studies by a total of 288 raters recruited from universities and the general public in Stockholm, Sweden. The faces were rated on attractiveness, health, tiredness, sleepiness, sociability, trustworthiness, employability, and leadership ability. These factors were all adversely affected by sleep loss. Furthermore, looking tired was strongly related to being less attractive, looking less healthy and less trustworthy, and being perceived as a poorer employee and leader. One of the studies assessed facial features commonly associated with looking tired, showing that sleep deprivation results in eyes which appear more swollen and red, with dark circles and hanging eyelids, as well as paler skin with more fine lines and wrinkles. When sleep deprived, people were also perceived as more sad. In conclusion, the four studies show that sleep loss and a tired appearance affect how one is perceived by other people. These perceptions may lead to negative evaluations in interpersonal situations, both personal and professional. This thesis thus demonstrates social benefits of prioritizing sleep, adding to the physiological, cognitive, and behavioural research on sleep loss. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>