Effects of acute sleep deprivation and recovery sleep on cognitive performance in depressed individuals

Acute sleep deprivation (SD) can lead to rapid albeit transient antidepressant effects for some individuals with clinical depression. However, SD also has adverse effects on cognitive performance. As investigations into the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of SD take place, it will also be important to fully characterize effects on other aspects of mental function. Here, we investigated relationships between depression and performance on a battery = assessing a range of cognitive domains at baseline, during acute SD, and after recovery sleep. Thirty-six individuals with current depression and 10 euthymic controls underwent a baseline night of sleep followed by 36 h of total SD and one night of recovery sleep in the laboratory. Participants completed the Cognition battery and a self-report survey of wellbeing twice after each protocol night. Depressed individuals had similar – if not faster – performance on Cognition subtests relative to healthy controls at baseline and reported worse wellbeing. SD had pronounced effects on both speed and accuracy across Cognition subtests, with all participants becoming slower, less accurate, and less efficient overall; no differences between depressed and healthy controls were observed. Performance returned to pre-deprivation levels after recovery sleep. These results suggest that currently depressed individuals exhibit the same decrements in cognitive performance after acute SD as non-depressed individuals, which is a critical consideration for future research aimed at elucidating the mechanisms that underlie SD's antidepressant effects and potential therapeutic applications.