# Bidirectional predictors between baseline and recovery sleep measures and cardiovascular measures during sleep deprivation and psychological stress

## TL;DR

This study shows how baseline sleep patterns predict cardiovascular responses during sleep deprivation and stress, and how these responses affect recovery sleep.

## Contribution

The study is the first to investigate bidirectional predictors between baseline sleep and cardiovascular measures during sleep deprivation and psychological stress.

## Key findings

- Higher baseline sleep efficiency predicted lower stroke volume and higher vascular resistance during sleep deprivation and stress.
- Cardiovascular indices during sleep deprivation explained up to 24.9% of recovery sleep variance.
- Females showed significant bidirectional relationships between baseline sleep and cardiovascular measures.

## Abstract

For the first time, we investigated bidirectional predictors between baseline and recovery sleep and cardiovascular (CV) measures during total sleep deprivation (TSD) and psychological stress in a five‐day experiment with 32 healthy adults (27‐53y; 14 females). CV measures were collected in the morning after two baseline nights (B1, B2) and during TSD morning (TSD AM) and evening following psychological stress (TSD PM). Actigraphy assessed sleep during B2 before TSD and the first recovery night (R1) after TSD. Higher B2 wake after sleep onset (WASO) predicted lower TSD PM stroke volume and higher TSD PM systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI), with greater B2 percent sleep predicting inverse relationships, explaining 12.8%–15.9% of the TSD CV variance. Also, higher B2 WASO predicted higher B2 AM SVRI. Furthermore, longer TSD left ventricular ejection time predicted later R1 sleep offset, longer sleep duration, and higher WASO; by contrast, higher TSD AM and TSD PM heart rate predicted earlier R1 sleep offset. TSD CV indices explained 14.8%–24.9% of the R1 sleep variance. Notably, females showed significant predictive bidirectional relationships. Our novel results demonstrate that baseline sleep predicts CV metrics during TSD and psychological stress, and that these metrics predict recovery sleep, underscoring crucial relationships, mechanisms, and biomarkers between sleep and cardiovascular health.