Sleep Impairment Compromises Young Collegiate’s Resting-State Brain Wave Activity and Prefrontal Cognition

Introduction.Sleep problems are common among university students and have been linked to weakened brain abilities and cognitive functioning.Electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERP) are important and tests routinely done to assess brain abilities and cognitive functions.Therefore, present study aims to examines the relationship between sleep functions and various domains of brain and cognitive abilities in sleep-disturbed collegiates.Method.Thirty-two collegiates participated in this study.Sleep functions such as sleep quality and daytime sleepiness were subjectively assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), respectively.EEG brainwaves (alpha-Hz, beta-Hz, delta-Hz, and theta-Hz) and ERP P300 (amplitude-V [AMP], latency-ms [LAT]) were recorded using RMS analysis and auditory-oddball paradigm, respectively.Results.Pearson's correlation analysis revealed statistically significant linear correlation between PSQI and AMP (r = -0.485,p = .005),PSQI and LAT (r = 0.354, p = .047),ESS and AMP (r = -0.478,p = .006),and ESS and LAT (r = 0.436, p = .013).Considering EEG brainwaves, both PSQI (r = -0.364,p = .040)and ESS (r = -0.409,p = .020)demonstrate statistically significant linear correlation with alpha.Further, regression analysis revealed that sleep functions (PSQI and ESS) were found to significantly predict AMP, LAT, and alpha.Conclusions.In collegiates with sleep disturbances, measures of prefrontal cognition and EEG brainwaves are substantially correlated with sleep-related characteristics.