Sleep deprivation reduces attention and cognitive processing capacity

A study of table tennis players in China found that 36 hours of sleep deprivation prolonged their reaction time and reduced attention and cognitive processing capacity. Functional connectivity between the frontal and occipital regions of their brains also decreased. The paper was published in Neuroscience.

When a person remains awake for 24 hours or more, they enter a state known as acute sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation can also be chronic, occurring when someone consistently gets insufficient sleep over an extended period of time. It impairs cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and decision-making, increasing the risk of accidents and errors.

Emotionally, sleep deprivation can lead to irritability, mood swings, and heightened sensitivity to stress. Long-term sleep loss has been linked to serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and weakened immune function. It also disrupts hormonal regulation, including hormones that control appetite and stress. Sleep-deprived individuals may experience microsleeps—brief, involuntary episodes of sleep—without realizing it.

Study author Ziyi Peng and his colleagues aimed to systematically examine changes in spatial cognitive abilities and brain activity among table tennis players following 36 hours of total sleep deprivation. They hypothesized that this level of sleep deprivation would substantially impair cognitive performance and reduce functional connectivity in the brain—coordinated activity between different brain regions over time.

The study included 20 male second-level table tennis players with an average age of 20. All participants were healthy, right-handed, and reported good sleep habits. None had a history of psychiatric or neurological disorders.

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Participants first learned to perform a spatial cognitive processing task and were required to reach at least 80% accuracy before advancing. This task was used to measure cognitive processing speed and attentional performance. During this baseline session, researchers also recorded participants’ brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG).

Afterward, the participants stayed awake for 36 consecutive hours under supervision, with no stimulant drugs allowed. Nursing staff were present to ensure participants remained awake. After the sleep deprivation period, participants repeated the cognitive task and underwent another EEG session.

The results showed that 36 hours of sleep deprivation led to longer reaction times during the task, along with declines in attention and cognitive processing ability. EEG analysis revealed reduced functional connectivity between the frontal and occipital regions of the brain—areas important for visual-spatial processing and executive control.

“After 36 h of SD [sleep deprivation], the spatial cognitive ability of table tennis athletes was impaired. SD not only led to a reduction in the allocation of attentional resources and cognitive processing capabilities in these athletes, but also weakened functional connectivity between the frontal and occipital lobes of the brain,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on how acute sleep deprivation can impair cognitive functioning, particularly in high-performance athletes who rely heavily on rapid visual and motor processing. However, the study did not include a control group. As a result, it is not entirely clear which observed changes were directly caused by sleep deprivation and which may reflect natural variation over time.

The paper, “Sleep deprivation impairs spatial cognitive processing and alters brain connectivity in table tennis athletes,” was authored by Ziyi Peng, Zexuan Wang, Lin Xu, Yongcong Shao, Fubing Jiao, and Jing Lv.