Morning resting hypothalamus connectivity predicts individual differences in accumulated daytime sleepiness

Motivation: Sleeping well at night and feeling awake in the day play key roles in human health and well-being, yet little research examines how sleep-wake patterns affect daytime sleepiness individually. Goal(s): To investigate inter-individual differences in sleepiness and its neural basis. Approach: Seventy-one healthy adults participated in a fMRI investigation. Results: The findings revealed a substantial negative correlation between the RSFC of the hypothalamus with the dorsal striatum in the morning and the subsequent changes in subjective sleepiness from morning to evening. Impact: These outcomes provide valuable insights into the differential accumulation of subjective sleepiness and underscore the predictive significance of functional connectivity between the hypothalamus and the dorsal striatum in predisposition to sleepiness.