Stop and revive? The effectiveness of nap and active rest breaks for reducing driver sleepiness

Watling, Christopher N.; Smith, Simon S.; Horswill, Mark S. · 2014 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12256

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the relative effectiveness of two common countermeasures—napping and active rest breaks—for mitigating driver sleepiness. The research was motivated by the need to determine which strategy more effectively reduces physiological and subjective signs of fatigue, thereby improving road safety. The authors aimed to compare a 15-minute nap against a 15-minute active rest break involving brisk walking to assess their impact on sleepiness levels and driving performance. The experimental design employed a counterbalanced within-subjects approach involving 20 healthy young adults (aged 20–25 years), comprising eight males and twelve females. Each participant completed both conditions on separate occasions, spaced one week apart. The protocol required participants to wake at 5:00 AM and engage in a two-hour simulated driving task. Following this initial driving period, participants underwent either a 15-minute nap opportunity or a 15-minute active rest break that included 10 minutes of brisk walking. This was followed by a second hour of simulated driving. The study evaluated the effects of these interventions using three primary measures: physiological indicators (EEG theta and alpha absolute power), subjective assessments (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale), and driving performance metrics (Hazard Perception Task). The results indicated distinct differences between the two interventions. The nap break significantly reduced EEG theta and alpha absolute power, indicating a decrease in physiological sleepiness, and eventually led to lower subjective sleepiness levels. In contrast, the active rest break failed to reduce physiological sleepiness; EEG theta and alpha power levels actually increased over time. While the active rest break produced an immediate reduction in subjective sleepiness, this effect was transient, with subjective sleepiness rising during the final hour of simulated driving. Regarding driving performance, no significant difference was found between the two break types in terms of hazard perception. The study concludes that only the nap break produced a significant and sustained reduction in physiological sleepiness. The authors highlight a critical safety implication regarding active rest breaks: the immediate but temporary reduction in subjective sleepiness may create a false sense of alertness. This discrepancy between subjective perception and increasing physiological fatigue could lead drivers to underestimate their level of sleepiness, potentially compromising safety despite the lack of actual physiological recovery.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• drowsiness
• drowsiness detection algorithms
• sleep deprivation

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: physiological data