Frontal lobe metabolic decreases with sleep deprivation not totally reversed by recovery sleep.

We studied the effects of total sleep deprivation and recovery sleep in normal subjects using position emission tomography with 18F-deoxyglycose. Sleep deprivation resulted in a significant decrease in relative metabolism of the frontal cortex, thalamus, and striatum. Recovery sleep was found to have only a partial restorative effect on frontal lobe function with minimal reversal of subcortical deficits. Sleep may be especially important for maintenance of frontal lobe activity.