Too tired to talk? : sleep, fatigue, and social functioning

Sleep has been shown to have many health promoting functions, and is vital for the maintenance of physiological, cognitive, and emotional well-being. Much of what we know about sleep derives from studies showing what happens when individuals do not obtain sufficient sleep. A number of such studies have shown that sleep may also be vital for one of the key drivers of human dominance - our ability to be social. The overall aim of this thesis is to advance our knowledge of the relationship between sleep and social functioning, specifically focusing on the short-term effects of insufficient sleep, poor sleep quality, and related states such as sleepiness and fatigue, on our ability to perform a number of socially vital behaviours and functions. Paper I longitudinally investigated potential bidirectional relationships between sleepiness/sleep and the amount of social activity individuals engage in. This paper followed 681 participants who completed a time-use questionnaire over three weeks requiring individuals to report their activity every 30 minutes. Participants also completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) six times per day and the Karolinska Sleep Diary (KSD) each morning. Activity categorised as ‘social activity’ was counted and its association to sleepiness and sleep duration was analysed. We observed that higher sleepiness predicted a decrease in probability of conducting social activity in the near future and a decrease in the duration of social activity. Sleep duration did not predict next day social activity. In the opposite direction, we found that social activity moderated the association between time-of- day and sleepiness. Additionally, an increase in the total amount of socialising per day predicted that individuals would sleep less subsequently. The study has implications for understanding the dynamic role of sleep in human social behaviour and suggests that sleepiness, likely due to decreased social motivation, may hinder the maintenance of a healthy social life. Paper II employed an experimental sleep deprivation paradigm to investigate the effect of acute sleep loss on communication ability. Participants were randomised to either one night of total sleep deprivation (N = 91) or normal sleep (N = 92). The following day, communication ability was assessed via performance in two collaborative tasks with a partner (a model-building task and a word-description task). During these collaborative tasks, aspects of speech prosody were also measured (speaking duration, speaking volume, and speaking volume consistency). Participants additionally completed individual verbal fluency assessments. Performance on the model-building task was worse if the model-builder was sleep deprived, whereas the sleep deprivation appeared to boost performance in the instruction-giver. All other aspects measured seem unaffected by sleep loss. The results suggest that sleep deprivation leads to changes in communicative performance during longer instructive tasks, while simpler word-description tasks appear resilient. Paper III assessed whether sleep deprivation leads to changes in facial appearance. Subjects (same data collection as Paper II; sleep deprived = 91, normal sleep = 90) were photographed and their skin tone was measured using a spectrophotometer. Using the photographs, the degree of eye-openness, mouth curvature, and periorbital darkness was calculated. A separate sample of raters (N = 63) judged the appearance of subjects using the facial photographs in three dimensions: paleness, fatigue, and healthiness. The results did not reveal any evidence of changes in facial appearance following sleep deprivation, in neither objective nor subjective measurements. However, decreased skin yellowness, less eye openness, downward mouth curvature, and periorbital darkness all predicted how fatigued individuals were rated by others. These results exemplify the difficulty of assessing fatigue from facial features alone. Paper IV examined whether sleep was related to cognitive empathy ability. Study 1 (N = 291) investigates the effect of normal variation in sleep duration and sleep quality on our ability to recognise and categorise the emotional state of others. Study 2 (same data collection as Papers II and III; sleep deprived = 90, normal sleep = 91) investigated whether one night of total sleep deprivation impacted the ability to recognise and categorise the emotional state of others. Both studies tested performance on a multimodal forced-choice task of emotion recognition, where participants had to correctly categorise an actor-portrayed emotion on screen. Self-reported sleep duration/quality (Study 1), and sleep deprivation (Study 2) did not predict overall emotion recognition accuracy. Follow-up tests found no emotion-specific effects, apart from one positive association suggesting that greater self-reported sleep quality could predict more accurate recognition of disgust (Study 1). The combination of these studies suggests that the ability to accurately categorise the emotions of others is resilient to acute periods of insufficient sleep. In summary, the work in this thesis has combined different study designs and data-sources to investigate the relationship between sleep and social functioning, as well as the influence of related states such as sleepiness and fatigue. We find evidence that social motivation and communication depends on aspects of sleep, while facial appearance and cognitive empathy appear resilient. This thesis therefore exemplifies the complex relationship between sleep and social functioning, while providing exciting directions for future research

The effect of sleep deprivation on objective and subjective measures of facial appearance

This study was funded by the Swedish Research Council, FORTE (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare), and The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences.The faces of people who are sleep deprived are perceived by others as looking paler, less healthy and less attractive compared to when well rested. However, there is little research using objective measures to investigate sleep‐loss‐related changes in facial appearance. We aimed to assess the effects of sleep deprivation on skin colour, eye openness, mouth curvature and periorbital darkness using objective measures, as well as to replicate previous findings for subjective ratings. We also investigated the extent to which these facial features predicted ratings of fatigue by others and could be used to classify the sleep condition of the person. Subjects (n = 181) were randomised to one night of total sleep deprivation or a night of normal sleep (8–9 hr in bed). The following day facial photographs were taken and, in a subset (n = 141), skin colour was measured using spectrophotometry. A separate set of participants (n = 63) later rated the photographs in terms of health, paleness and fatigue. The photographs were also digitally analysed with respect to eye openness, mouth curvature and periorbital darkness. The results showed that neither sleep deprivation nor the subjects’ sleepiness was related to differences in any facial variable. Similarly, there was no difference in subjective ratings between the groups. Decreased skin yellowness, less eye openness, downward mouth curvature and periorbital darkness all predicted increased fatigue ratings by others. However, the combination of appearance variables could not be accurately used to classify sleep condition. These findings have implications for both face‐to‐face and computerised visual assessment of sleep loss and fatigue.PostprintPeer reviewe

Exploring the relationship between chronic undernutrition and asymptomatic malaria in Ghanaian children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A moderate association has been found between asymptomatic parasitaemia and undernutrition. However, additional investigation using the gold standard for asymptomatic parasitaemia confirmation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), is needed to validate this association. Anthropometric measurements and blood samples from children less than five years of age in a rural Ghanaian community were used to determine if an association exists between chronic undernutrition and PCR-confirmed cases of asymptomatic malaria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 214 children less than five years of age from a community near Kumasi, Ghana. Blood samples and anthropometric measurements from these children were collected during physical examinations conducted in January 2007 by partners of the Barekuma Collaborative Community Development Programme.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Findings from the logistic model predicting the odds of asymptomatic malaria indicate that children who experienced mild, moderate or severe stunting were not more likely to have asymptomatic malaria than children who were not stunted. Children experiencing anaemia had an increased likelihood (OR = 4.15; 95% CI: 1.92, 8.98) of asymptomatic malaria. Similarly, increased spleen size, which was measured by ultrasound, was also associated with asymptomatic malaria (OR = 2.17; 95% CI: 1.44, 3.28). Fast breathing, sex of the child, and age of the child were not significantly associated with the asymptomatic malaria.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>No significant association between chronic undernutrition and presence of asymptomatic malaria was found. Children who experience anaemia and children who have splenomegaly are more likely to present asymptomatic malaria. Programmes aimed at addressing malaria should continue to include nutritional components, especially components that address anaemia.</p

Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability-for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples

Creative destruction in science

Drawing on the concept of a gale of creative destruction in a capitalistic economy, we argue that initiatives to assess the robustness of findings in the organizational literature should aim to simultaneously test competing ideas operating in the same theoretical space. In other words, replication efforts should seek not just to support or question the original findings, but also to replace them with revised, stronger theories with greater explanatory power. Achieving this will typically require adding new measures, conditions, and subject populations to research designs, in order to carry out conceptual tests of multiple theories in addition to directly replicating the original findings. To illustrate the value of the creative destruction approach for theory pruning in organizational scholarship, we describe recent replication initiatives re-examining culture and work morality, working parents\u2019 reasoning about day care options, and gender discrimination in hiring decisions. Significance statement It is becoming increasingly clear that many, if not most, published research findings across scientific fields are not readily replicable when the same method is repeated. Although extremely valuable, failed replications risk leaving a theoretical void\u2014 reducing confidence the original theoretical prediction is true, but not replacing it with positive evidence in favor of an alternative theory. We introduce the creative destruction approach to replication, which combines theory pruning methods from the field of management with emerging best practices from the open science movement, with the aim of making replications as generative as possible. In effect, we advocate for a Replication 2.0 movement in which the goal shifts from checking on the reliability of past findings to actively engaging in competitive theory testing and theory building. Scientific transparency statement The materials, code, and data for this article are posted publicly on the Open Science Framework, with links provided in the article

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples