https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-026-02131-2
Regular Article
Spectral EEG markers of the drives for wake and sleep in afternoon naps as the correlates of subjective and objective measures of daytime sleepiness
1
Independent Research Group for Biomedical Systems Math-Modeling, Berlin, Germany
2
Department of Normal Physiology, Medical Institute of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia
3
Laboratory of Sleep/Wake Neurobiology, Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
a
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Received:
14
December
2025
Accepted:
10
January
2026
Published online:
18
January
2026
Despite our capability to consciously perceive sleepiness, the consensus on the method of its objective measurement is not reached. The complex nature of this transitional state between wake and sleep states might be one of explanations of the failure to validate subjective sleepiness self-assessments against objective sleepiness measures, such as spectral electroencephalographic (EEG) powers. Our previous pilot study showed that the disconnect between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) assessed with Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and measured as Latency to Sleep Onset (SOL) can be linked to their differential relationship with the opposing drives for sleep and wake. To try to replicate this result, we enlarged the sample of nap study from 27 to 80 university students and found again that ESS score and min of SOL were differentially linked to scores on the first and second principal components of the EEG spectrum that are the indicators of these two opposing sleep–wake regulatory processes. Thus, a stronger sleep drive and a weaker opposing wake drive might be the major contributors to the subjective and objective indicator of EDS, respectively. The results are discussed in light of findings of questionnaire studies indicating a relatively high prevalence of ESS-based EDS among university students.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
