High neuroticism is associated with reduced negative affect following sleep deprivation

The aim was to investigate how neuroticism moderates the affective consequences of personalized mild-moderate partial sleep deprivation. A total of 52 healthy subjects aged 18–35 years completed the NEO PI-3 at baseline, before they completed an 11-day study protocol. After maintaining habitual sleep for seven days, the participants were asked to sleep 2 h less than their average sleep duration, the last three nights of the study protocol. Sleep patterns were observed using actigraphs and sleep diaries. The participants completed the PANAS questionnaire measuring positive and negative affect at 9 am (±90 min) at day 1, 4, 8 (habitual sleep), 9 and 11 (partial sleep deprived). We found that participants with higher scores on neuroticism experienced a decrease in negative affect following sleep deprivation. Participants with lower scores on neuroticism experienced an increase in negative affect after sleep deprivation. Positive affect was reduced following sleep deprivation, regardless of scores on neuroticism.