Studies of adults with alcohol dependence indicate a close relation between sleep disturbances and alcohol use and abuse. Few studies have examined these relations in young humans; fewer have examined the role of the circadian timing or sleep/wake homeostatic systems in alcohol utilization and metabolism; and none has attempted to determine association of family history of alcoholism with sleep of offspring. This project includes three studies aimed at assessing these associations. Study 1 provides the first attempt to examine sleep patterns, sleep architecture, and a marker of the circadian timing system (melatonin onset phase) in children ages 9 and 10, adolescents ages 15 and 16, and young adults ages 21 and 22 with (PH+) or without (PH-) parental history of alcohol abuse/dependence (N = 200). A subset of older participants have moderate to high prior experience with alcohol (etoh+). We will test hypotheses that sleep is more disturbed in (1) PH+ participants, (2) etoh+ participants, (3) and in older participants at an initial assessment. We also predict that participants with both PH+ and etoh+ will show most disruption. A 2.5-yr longitudinal component in a subgroup of 80 low alcohol-experience children and adolescents will test the hypotheses that (1) pre-existing sleep disruptions predict amount of alcohol use in the 2.5-year follow up and (2) alcohol use during follow-up predicts changes in sleep between the initial and the 2.5- year in-lab assessments. In Study 2, effects of a moderate evening dose of alcohol on sleep, waking performance, and circadian phase will be studied in 64 adolescents and young adults with low alcohol exposure and PH+ or PH-. We will test the hypothesis that alcohol will alter sleep architecture and waking performance in predictable ways and that the effects will be blunted in PH+ offspring relative to PH- offspring. Additionally, we will assess whether alcohol- induced alterations in SWS are associated with slope of the decline in core body temperature following alcohol ingestion. Study 3 uses the forced desynchrony paradigm, in which participants will live in the laboratory for nearly weeks on a 20-hour day, to determine the independent and interactive contributions of the circadian timing system and sleep/wake homeostatic processes to the effects of moderate doses of alcohol on sleep, sleepiness, and waking performance. Study 3 involves a total of 24 FH- participants.
| Tarokh, Leila; Saletin, Jared M; Carskadon, Mary A (2016) Sleep in adolescence: Physiology, cognition and mental health. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 70:182-188 |
| Crowley, Stephanie J; Van Reen, Eliza; LeBourgeois, Monique K et al. (2014) A longitudinal assessment of sleep timing, circadian phase, and phase angle of entrainment across human adolescence. PLoS One 9:e112199 |
| Tarokh, Leila; Carskadon, Mary A; Achermann, Peter (2014) Early adolescent cognitive gains are marked by increased sleep EEG coherence. PLoS One 9:e106847 |
| Van Reen, Eliza; Rupp, Tracy L; Acebo, Christine et al. (2013) Biphasic effects of alcohol as a function of circadian phase. Sleep 36:137-45 |
| Tarokh, L; Carskadon, M A; Achermann, P (2012) Dissipation of sleep pressure is stable across adolescence. Neuroscience 216:167-77 |
| Tarokh, Leila; Van Reen, Eliza; Acebo, Christine et al. (2012) Adolescence and parental history of alcoholism: insights from the sleep EEG. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 36:1530-41 |
| Tarokh, Leila; Carskadon, Mary A; Achermann, Peter (2011) Trait-like characteristics of the sleep EEG across adolescent development. J Neurosci 31:6371-8 |
| Carskadon, Mary A (2011) Sleep in adolescents: the perfect storm. Pediatr Clin North Am 58:637-47 |
| Van Reen, Eliza; Tarokh, Leila; Rupp, Tracy L et al. (2011) Does timing of alcohol administration affect sleep? Sleep 34:195-205 |
| Tarokh, Leila; Van Reen, Eliza; LeBourgeois, Monique et al. (2011) Sleep EEG provides evidence that cortical changes persist into late adolescence. Sleep 34:1385-93 |
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