Slow-wave sleep

About: Slow-wave sleep is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6543 publications have been published within this topic receiving 320663 citations. The topic is also known as: deep sleep.

Effect of alcohol on sleep and nighttime plasma growth hormone and cortisol concentrations.

Abstract: The acute and chronic effects of alcohol and alcohol withdrawal on sleep patterns and plasma GH and cortisol fluctuations occurring during sleep were studied. Five healthy men, aged 21-26 yr, consumed a placebo drink for 3 baseline nights, alcohol (0.8 g/kg) for 9 nights, and a placebo drink on final withdrawal night. All-night polygraphic sleep recordings and blood samples (every 20 min with a venous catheter) were collected for 1 placebo, 1 acute alcohol, 1 chronic alcohol (night 9), and 1 alcohol withdrawal night. Acute and chronic alcohol consumption reduced rapid eye movement sleep nonsignificantly during the first half of the night, whereas slow wave sleep (stages 3 and 4) was increased significantly after acute alcohol, returning to baseline values on the chronic alcohol night. On the withdrawal night, rapid eye movement sleep and slow wave sleep were not significantly different from placebo sleep. Alcohol significantly suppressed plasma GH values (70-75%) on acute and chronic nights. All measures of GH, including total integral for bedtime hours, mean hourly rate, and peak level, were similarly affected by alcohol. GH returned to placebo values on the withdrawal night. Measures of nighttime plasma cortisol were not significantly altered by alcohol or alcohol withdrawal at this dose level.

Juvenile fibromyalgia: Clinical and polysomnographic aspects

Abstract: Objective To identify the child-mother diagnostic correlation in fibromyalgia (FM), to study sleep disturbance in juvenile FM, and to compare clinical aspects and sleep disorders between these groups. Methods We studied 34 children with confirmed FM aged 11 +/- 1 years, 10 children with diffuse pain, and 17 age and sex matched asymptomatic controls. The respective 61 mothers were included: 34 asymptomatic and 27 with FM. All participants were subjected to clinical evaluation, a sleep questionnaire, and nocturnal polysomnography, preceded by a night of adaptation. Sleep scoring was done visually and a computerized analysis was performed for alpha, theta, and delta waves in slow wave sleep (SWS). Results A significant predominance of mothers with FM was observed in the group of children with FM (71%) compared to children with diffuse pain (30%) and asymptomatic children (0%). According to the sleep questionnaire, the complaints of superficial sleep and nonrestorative sleep were more prominent in mothers with FM than in children with FM, whereas motor agitation during sleep was more frequent in the children with FM. Polysomnographic anomalies were also more prominent in mothers with FM than in children with FM in terms of decrease in sleep efficiency, increase of number of arousals during sleep, and alpha intrusion in SWS. Both FM groups presented an increased alpha + theta time/delta time index during SWS compared to respective controls, and mothers with FM also showed an increase in alpha time/delta time index during SWS, compared to asymptomatic mothers. A correlation was found between alpha + theta time/delta time index during SWS and intensity of clinical manifestations of pain and sleep anomalies in children and their mothers. Conclusion Significant concordance was observed regarding FM diagnosis in children and their mothers. Sleep complaints and polysomnography findings were less prominent in affected children compared to mothers with FM. In addition, we observed a significant correlation between polysomnographic indexes, sleep anomalies, and pain manifestations in children and their mothers.

Insomnia, metabolic rate and sleep restoration.

Abstract: Studies have shown occasional evidence of increased physiological activity in patients with primary insomnia. We hypothesized that metabolic rate, as measured by overall oxygen use (VO2), might be a more general index of increased physiological activity. An initial experiment found elevated VO2 both at night and during the day in patients with primary insomnia as compared with matched normal sleepers. A second experiment found significant but more modest increases in VO2 in patients with Sleep State Misperception Insomnia [who complain of poor sleep but who had normal sleep by electroencephalographic (EEG) criteria]. In a third experiment, normal young adults were given caffeine 400 mg three times per day (TID) for 1 week as a means of increasing VO2 and possibly producing other symptoms of insomnia. Participants developed many symptoms consistent with those seen in patients with primary insomnia (poor sleep, increased latency on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, increasing fatigue despite physiological activation, and increased anxiety on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)). In a final experiment, physiological arousal was again produced by caffeine to determine if sleep with elevated arousal would be less restorative. All subjects (Ss) slept for 3.5 h after being given 400 mg of caffeine. During 41 h of sleep deprivation that followed, there was no significant condition difference for the Multiple Sleep Latency Test or mood measures. The results provided only weak support for the idea that sleep is less restorative after physiological arousal.