Many studies have been carried out to assess the variability
of sleep parameters. The first night effect is one of the most
important factors in this variability and has been extensively
studied. However, the readaptation phenomenon when subjects
returned to the sleep laboratory after spending a certain period
of time at home has been not systematically evaluated. To
investigate this phenomenon across multiple sleep laboratory
sessions, polysomnographic data from 12 healthy young subjects
for 12 nights (three periods each of 4 consecutive nights, with
a minimum of 1 month between them) were collected. The first
night effect was present only in the first night of the first
period (“very first night”) and was significant
only for REM sleep-related variables. We conclude that the results
from the first nights of consecutive periods within a specific
protocol with healthy young subjects need not be discarded in
subsequent analyses.