title: Can normal subjects be motivated to fall asleep faster?
abstract: The Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) is widely believed to offer an objective, physiological measure of sleepiness. The speed with which a person falls asleep throughout the day is understood to be related systematically to sleep need and circadian phase. This study examined whether normal subjects (n = 14 young female adults) could achieve faster MSLT sleep onsets if they were given the incentive to do so. During week 1 baseline MSLTs were determined over 1 day for all subjects. In week 2 they were randomly assigned to two groups. Control subjects underwent a second MSLT testing day identical to that of week 1, whereas Incentive subjects had an additional financial incentive to sleep. There was a significant reduction in sleep onset latency (indicating increased sleepiness) during the 1500 h trial following the incentive, when subjects also reported a significantly greater increase in sleepiness over the trial. These findings suggest that when coupled with a mid-afternoon increase in sleepiness, increased motivation to sleep can reduce sleep onset latency.
authors.affiliation: Sleep Research Laboratory, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bright
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Horne
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*