Previous Research & Publications

The first studies in the Sleep for Science lab at E.P. Bradley Hospital included large survey studies of adolescents and college students and experimental studies of sleep and breathing in children and adults. We also began to develop and test procedures that would allow us to explore sleep patterns outside of the laboratory, especially wrist activity monitoring to estimate sleep. This research was funded in part by NIMH and by the Grass Foundation. During this time, Dr. Carskadon also was Editor in Chief of the Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming. References in the sections below highlight this early research.

Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming

The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming involved many of the leaders in the field of sleep research writing brief articles on a spectrum of topics in the areas of sleep and dreaming. This one-volume English-language book was written at the level of advanced high school students and is intended for use as a library reference book. Articles range from Animals’ Dreams to Zeitgebers.

Carskadon, M.A. (Editor-in-Chief). The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming, MacMillan Publishing Co., New York, 1993.

Survey Studies

High school students were a focus of one of our first survey studies of students in the Rhode Island area. The most ambitious of our early survey studies was the “SuperScience” survey of children in grades 4, 5, and 6 throughout the USA. We also performed surveys with college students as we began to establish our laboratory research.

Carskadon, M.A. Adolescent sleepiness: Increased risk in a high-risk population. Alcohol Drugs Driving 5/6: 317-328, 1990.
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Carskadon, M.A. Patterns of sleep and sleepiness in adolescents. Pediatrician 17: 5-12, 1990.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Acebo, C. Parental reports of seasonal mood and behavior changes in children. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 32 (2):264-269, 1993.
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Carskadon, M.A., Vieira, C., and Acebo, C. Association between puberty and delayed phase preference. Sleep 16(3):258-262, 1993.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Acebo, C. A self-administered rating scale for pubertal development. J. Adolesc. Health Care 14:190-195, 1993.
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Carskadon, M.A. and Davis, S.S. Sleep-wake patterns in the high-school-to-college transition: Preliminary data. Sleep Research 18: 113, 1989.

Bigler, P.J. and Carskadon, M.A. The sleep/wake patterns of college students across a semester. Sleep Research 19: 113, 1990.

Acebo, C., Davis, S.S., Herman, K.B., and Carskadon, M.A. Undergraduate sleep patterns: Evidence of adaptation over time. Sleep Research 20: 111, 1991.

Actigraphic Estimation of Sleep

With the help and expertise of our terrific postdoctoral fellow from Israel, Avi Sadeh, we began an endeavor that continues to serve a core function in our lab: using actigraphy to estimate sleep patterns. The initial studies focused on defining the limits of the technology in our studies and developing algorithms to discriminate sleep and wake.

Sadeh, A., Sharkey, K., and Carskadon, M.A. Activity-based sleep-wake identification: an empirical test of methodological issues. Sleep 17(3):201-207, 1994.
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Sadeh, A., Acebo, C., Seifer, R., Aytur, S., and Carskadon, M.A. Activity-based assessment of sleep-wake patterns during the 1st year of life. Infant Behavior and Development 18:329-337, 1995.
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Sleep and Breathing

With funding from the NHLBI, we began to investigate factors that may be associated with sleep disrupted breathing in children, young adults, and women near the menopause. One technique we used to challenge the breathing response during sleep was to occlude the nose (leaving the mouth free for airflow) during sleep. These studies provided very interesting information about sleep and breathing and also provided good normative data about sleep.

Acebo, C., Millman, R.P., Rosenberg, C., Cavallo, A., and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep, breathing, and cephalometrics in older children and young adults: Part I—Normative values. Chest 109(3):664-672, 1996.
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Millman, R.P., Acebo, C., Rosenberg, C., and Carskadon, M.A. Sleep, breathing, and cephalometrics in older children and young adults: Part II—Response to nasal occlusion. Chest 109(3):673-679, 1996.
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Carskadon, M.A., Bearpark, H.M., Sharkey, K.M., Millman, R.P., Rosenberg, C., Cavallo, A., Carlisle, C., and Acebo, C. Effects of menopause and nasal occlusion on breathing during sleep. Am.J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 155: 205-210, 1997.
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