The effects of efforts to fall asleep on the process of sleep onset

Abstract

Difficulty in falling asleep could be causedby physiological and cognitive arousal, including anxiety and worry. However,it is unclear which part of the sleep onset process is affected by cognitivearousal. This study examined the effects of the effort to fall asleep on thesleep onset process represented by nine EEG stages. Healthy male universitystudents (N = 9, aged 21 to 23 years) without any sleep-related complaintsparticipated in the study on two experimental nights. They were instructed tosleep when they felt sleepy (Neutral condition) or try to sleep as soon aspossible (Effort condition). Results indicated the prolonged EEG Stage 1 (thealpha wave train) and Stage 4 (EEG flattening) in the Effort condition. Theseresults suggest that the effort to fall asleep affects only the early part ofthe sleep onset process in which the arousal system has reduced activity.