| Description |
The purpose of this experiment was to observe the effect of sleep deprivation on resting metabolic rate. The main hypothesis was that resting metabolic rate would increase after a 24 hour period of complete sleep deprivation. The investigation studied the effects of sleep deprivation on 9 healthy, 12 hour post-absorptive subjects (4 female, 5 male, average age 23 ± 2.06). Subjects reported to the laboratory at 6:00 am on two consecutive mornings, the first after a night of normal sleep and the second after remaining awake for the previous 24 hours. Following at least 30 minutes of supine rest, 9 minutes of gas collection and analysis were taken by indirect open-circuit calorimetry. The average of minutes 4-8 was used in the data analysis. Oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production were analyzed using a SensorMedics® 2900 Metabolic Analyzing System (SensorMedics, Yorba Linda, CA), and heart rate was monitored using a Quinton 3000 ECG. Metabolic rate increased for four of the subjects and decreased for five subjects. Data were analyzed using the SAS Statistical Analysis program, which showed that the mean difference in metabolic rate between the two days was not statistically significant. Thus we conclude that sleep deprivation has no effect on resting metabolic rate. |
