STEM-Talk: Hans Van Dongen on the cognitive toll of fatigue and sleep loss

Hans Van Dongen knew when he majored in astrophysics, it would not likely be his career.

It was the diversity and rigor of scientific disciplines he would study in pursuit of that degree at Leiden University in the Netherlands that appealed to him.

“When you signed up for astrophysics they tell you, ‘you are not going to be an astrophysicist, but you will be able to do pretty much anything else that you put your mind to because you have learned all of these different skills.’ And that is exactly what happened. I learned a ton of all these different parts of science, and then could apply that anywhere I wanted.”

On this episode of STEM-Talk, Van Dongen joins Dr. Ken Ford and co-host Dr. Kevin Gluck to explore his research into sleep deprivation, shift work, fatigue risk management, and much more.

Dongen is director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University. His research focuses on sleep and sleep deprivation and its effect on cognitive function. He’s also exploring the interplay among the body’s circadian system and its homeostatic system — a system that aims to correct our circadian balance when it is off.

“The circadian clock is a proactive system that regulates our biology to be in tune with the light-dark cycle,” Van Dongen says. “From time to time, you will have to deviate from that rhythm because something else happens. The biological clock doesn’t really like that, but you are going to have to deal with it.” That’s where a secondary biological system comes in, a system whose job it is to get you back to balance called the homeostatic process.

The conversation covers many of the psychological, cognitive, and physical effects of sleep deprivation.

“When people are sleep-deprived, the salience of information that says what you are trying to do is not helpful is dampened,” Van Dongen says. “It’s as if that information is somehow not important to the brain anymore. You can recognize there is a problem and you can’t remediate it.”

It is a fascinating conversation that includes:

• The influence that frequent childhood moves had on Van Dongen’s sense of curiosity and ambition.
• How his father’s teaching career opened the door for Van Dongen to be able to toy with one of the first home computers in the Netherlands.
• What sleep loss is and what effect it has on our immune system, metabolism, and brain function.
• How night shift work effects the risk of metabolic disruption and disorder — even after as little as three days on that schedule.
• The wide range of physical and cognitive effects of sleep deprivation, including the inability to adapt to changing circumstances of a task while sleep deprived, and the value of team assessments of readiness to combat sleep deprivation.
• What might be behind the “mid-day slump.”
• Why young scientists should embrace failure, and much more.

“Sleep deprivation affects you across the board, but it doesn’t affect you across the board in the same way exactly all the time. It’s a lot more complicated,” Van Dongen says.

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