What to expect after a year in space: Space is the final frontier for understanding how extreme environments affect human physiology. Following twin astronauts, one of which spent a year-long mission on the International Space Station, Garrett-Bakelman et al. examined molecular and physiological traits that may be affected by time in space (see the Perspective by Löbrich and Jeggo). Sequencing the components of whole blood revealed that the length of telomeres, which is important to maintain in dividing cells and may be related to human aging, changed substantially during space flight and again upon return to Earth. Coupled with changes in DNA methylation in immune cells and cardiovascular and cognitive effects, this study provides a basis to assess the hazards of long-term space habitation. Science , this issue p. eaau8650 ; see also p. 127

The psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) is among the most widely used measures of behavioral alertness, but there is large variation among published studies in PVT performance outcomes and test durations. To promote standardization of the PVT and increase its sensitivity and specificity to sleep loss, we determined PVT metrics and task durations that optimally discriminated sleep deprived subjects from alert subjects. Repeated-measures experiments involving 10-min PVT assessments every 2 h across both acute total sleep deprivation (TSD) and 5 days of chronic partial sleep deprivation (PSD). Controlled laboratory environment. 74 healthy subjects (34 female), aged 22–45 years. TSD experiment involving 33 h awake (N = 31 subjects) and a PSD experiment involving 5 nights of 4 h time in bed (N = 43 subjects). In a paired t-test paradigm and for both TSD and PSD, effect sizes of 10 different PVT performance outcomes were calculated. Effect sizes were high for both TSD (1.59–1.94) and PSD (0.88–1.21) for PVT metrics related to lapses and to measures of psychomotor speed, i.e., mean 1/RT (response time) and mean slowest 10% 1/RT. In contrast, PVT mean and median RT outcomes scored low to moderate effect sizes influenced by extreme values. Analyses facilitating only portions of the full 10-min PVT indicated that for some outcomes, high effect sizes could be achieved with PVT durations considerably shorter than 10 min, although metrics involving lapses seemed to profit from longer test durations in TSD. Due to their superior conceptual and statistical properties and high sensitivity to sleep deprivation, metrics involving response speed and lapses should be considered primary outcomes for the 10-min PVT. In contrast, PVT mean and median metrics, which are among the most widely used outcomes, should be avoided as primary measures of alertness. Our analyses also suggest that some shorter-duration PVT versions may be sensitive to sleep loss, depending on the outcome variable selected, although this will need to be confirmed in comparative analyses of separate duration versions of the PVT. Using both sensitive PVT metrics and optimal test durations maximizes the sensitivity of the PVT to sleep loss and therefore potentially decreases the sample size needed to detect the same neurobehavioral deficit. We propose criteria to better standardize the 10-min PVT and facilitate between-study comparisons and meta-analyses.

To evaluate the quality of available evidence on the effects of environmental noise exposure on sleep a systematic review was conducted. The databases PSYCINFO, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and the TNO Repository were searched for non-laboratory studies on the effects of environmental noise on sleep with measured or predicted noise levels and published in or after the year 2000. The quality of the evidence was assessed using GRADE criteria. Seventy four studies predominately conducted between 2000 and 2015 were included in the review. A meta-analysis of surveys linking road, rail, and aircraft noise exposure to self-reports of sleep disturbance was conducted. The odds ratio for the percent highly sleep disturbed for a 10 dB increase in L_night was significant for aircraft (1.94; 95% CI 1.61–2.3), road (2.13; 95% CI 1.82–2.48), and rail (3.06; 95% CI 2.38–3.93) noise when the question referred to noise, but non-significant for aircraft (1.17; 95% CI 0.54–2.53), road (1.09; 95% CI 0.94–1.27), and rail (1.27; 95% CI 0.89–1.81) noise when the question did not refer to noise. A pooled analysis of polysomnographic studies on the acute effects of transportation noise on sleep was also conducted and the unadjusted odds ratio for the probability of awakening for a 10 dBA increase in the indoor L_max was significant for aircraft (1.35; 95% CI 1.22–1.50), road (1.36; 95% CI 1.19–1.55), and rail (1.35; 95% CI 1.21–1.52) noise. Due to a limited number of studies and the use of different outcome measures, a narrative review only was conducted for motility, cardiac and blood pressure outcomes, and for children’s sleep. The effect of wind turbine and hospital noise on sleep was also assessed. Based on the available evidence, transportation noise affects objectively measured sleep physiology and subjectively assessed sleep disturbance in adults. For other outcome measures and noise sources the examined evidence was conflicting or only emerging. According to GRADE criteria, the quality of the evidence was moderate for cortical awakenings and self-reported sleep disturbance (for questions that referred to noise) induced by traffic noise, low for motility measures of traffic noise induced sleep disturbance, and very low for all other noise sources and investigated sleep outcomes.

To gain some insight into how various behavioral (lifestyle) factors influence sleep duration, by investigation of the relationship of sleep time to waking activities using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Cross-sectional data from ATUS, an annual telephone survey of a population sample of US citizens who are interviewed regarding how they spent their time during a 24-hour period between 04:00 on the previous day and 04:00 on the interview day. Data were pooled from the 2003, 2004, and 2005 ATUS databases involving N=47,731 respondents older than 14 years of age. N/A Adjusted multiple linear regression models showed that the largest reciprocal relationship to sleep was found for work time, followed by travel time, which included commute time. Only shorter than average sleepers (<7.5 h) spent more time socializing, relaxing, and engaging in leisure activities, while both short (<5.5 h) and long sleepers (≥8.5 h) watched more TV than the average sleeper. The extent to which sleep time was exchanged for waking activities was also shown to depend on age and gender. Sleep time was minimal while work time was maximal in the age group 45-54 yr, and sleep time increased both with lower and higher age. Work time, travel time, and time for socializing, relaxing, and leisure are the primary activities reciprocally related to sleep time among Americans. These activities may be confounding the frequently observed association between short and long sleep on one hand and morbidity and mortality on the other hand and should be controlled for in future studies.