Sleep loss and subsequent exercise performance.

Abstract

The effect of sleeplessness on subsequent exercise performance is a difficult topic addressed by few workers, and is poorly understood. Sleep loss probably reduces VO2 max, although neither the causes nor the consequences for performance of this reduction have been determined. Sleep deprivation is not a physiological stress, and it may not change perceived exertion in exercise. Sleep loss severely hampers work requiring sizable cognitive input, providing evidence that sleep primarily serves the brain. The slow evolution of understanding of sleep-wake regulation hints that sleeplessness has other subtle central and peripheral effects, but the implications of these for exercise performance are unknown.