The Intersection of Sleep, Pain, and Executive Function in Girls Following the Menarcheal Transition
Major
Neuroscience
Anticipated Graduation Year
2024
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Menarche, the onset of menstruation, is marked by numerous psychological, physiological, and cognitive shifts, including pain, sleep (timing and quality), and executive functioning (EF). Pain impacts executive function; however, less is known about how pain and sleep might interact to impact EF. The current study addresses this gap and examines the relation between pain and various domains of EF, and whether sleep buffers this association in a sample of menarcheal girls.
A community sample of menarcheal girls (n = 159; M age = 12.8; SD age = 1.1) and their caregivers were recruited from a Midwestern metropolitan area. Caregivers reported on child demographics, EF (BRIEF: inhibitory control (IC), emotion control (EC), working memory (WM), and task switching (TS) subscales), pain (PROMIS Pain Interference), and sleep disturbance (PROMIS Sleep Disturbance Short Form). Youth reported on pain through the Child Somatic Symptom Inventory (CSSI) and on period pain through the Child Pain Rating Scale. Using PROCESS Procedure, moderation analyses investigated the relation between pain and domains of executive function and whether sleep disturbance acts as a moderator.
No significant main effects were found amongst pain and EF variables. There was a significant interaction between period pain and the BRIEF inhibition control domain with sleep disturbance as the moderator emerged (β = -.0333, p = .018) indicating that those reporting higher pain had worse inhibition when sleep disturbance was high. Additionally, main effects were found between sleep disturbances and domains of EF including: 1) the total BRIEF score (p=.0008, β =7.46), 2) emotion control (p=.024, β =1.88), 3) inhibition (p=.004, β =1.89), task switch (p=.012, β=1.40) , and working memory (p=.001, β =2.28) which indicates higher somatic pain and sleep disturbance relates to worse EF.
Results indicate that there are significant relations between pain, sleep, and EF. Data collection is ongoing, capturing an objective measure of sleep via actigraphy. Next steps include further analyses with actigraphy data to investigate how executive function and pain relate to this measure of sleep.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
J.P. Adornetti, H. Hagy, M.J. Kmiecik, S.J. Crowley, K.M.Hellman, F.F. Tu & A.M. Bohnert
Supported By
NIH Empathy Study
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
The Intersection of Sleep, Pain, and Executive Function in Girls Following the Menarcheal Transition
Menarche, the onset of menstruation, is marked by numerous psychological, physiological, and cognitive shifts, including pain, sleep (timing and quality), and executive functioning (EF). Pain impacts executive function; however, less is known about how pain and sleep might interact to impact EF. The current study addresses this gap and examines the relation between pain and various domains of EF, and whether sleep buffers this association in a sample of menarcheal girls.
A community sample of menarcheal girls (n = 159; M age = 12.8; SD age = 1.1) and their caregivers were recruited from a Midwestern metropolitan area. Caregivers reported on child demographics, EF (BRIEF: inhibitory control (IC), emotion control (EC), working memory (WM), and task switching (TS) subscales), pain (PROMIS Pain Interference), and sleep disturbance (PROMIS Sleep Disturbance Short Form). Youth reported on pain through the Child Somatic Symptom Inventory (CSSI) and on period pain through the Child Pain Rating Scale. Using PROCESS Procedure, moderation analyses investigated the relation between pain and domains of executive function and whether sleep disturbance acts as a moderator.
No significant main effects were found amongst pain and EF variables. There was a significant interaction between period pain and the BRIEF inhibition control domain with sleep disturbance as the moderator emerged (β = -.0333, p = .018) indicating that those reporting higher pain had worse inhibition when sleep disturbance was high. Additionally, main effects were found between sleep disturbances and domains of EF including: 1) the total BRIEF score (p=.0008, β =7.46), 2) emotion control (p=.024, β =1.88), 3) inhibition (p=.004, β =1.89), task switch (p=.012, β=1.40) , and working memory (p=.001, β =2.28) which indicates higher somatic pain and sleep disturbance relates to worse EF.
Results indicate that there are significant relations between pain, sleep, and EF. Data collection is ongoing, capturing an objective measure of sleep via actigraphy. Next steps include further analyses with actigraphy data to investigate how executive function and pain relate to this measure of sleep.