Blunted heart rate recovery to spontaneous nocturnal arousals in short-sleeping adults

Abstract

Chronic insufficient sleep is a common occurrence around the world, and results in numerous physiological detriments and consequences, including cardiovascular complications. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between habitual total sleep time (TST) measured objectively via at-home actigraphy and heart rate (HR) reactivity to nocturnal cortical arousals. We hypothesized that short habitual TST would be associated with exaggerated cardiac reactivity to nocturnal cortical arousals. Participants included in 35 healthy individuals (20 male, 15 female, age: 24 ± 1, BMI: 27 ± 1 kg/m2), and were split using a median analysis into short (SS; n = 17) and normal sleeping (NS; n = 18) adults based on a minimum of 7 days of at-home actigraphy testing. All participants underwent a full overnight laboratory polysomnography (PSG) testing session, including continuous HR (electrocardiogram, ECG) sampling. HR reactivities to all spontaneous cortical arousals were assessed for 20 cardiac cycles following the onset of the arousal in all participants. Baseline HR was not significantly different between groups (P > .05). Spontaneous nocturnal arousal elicited an augmented HR response in the SS group, specifically during the recovery period [F (4.192, 134.134) = 3.413, p = .01]. There were no significant differences in HR reactivity between sexes [F (4.006, 128.189) = .429, p > .05]. These findings offer evidence of nocturnal cardiovascular dysregulation in habitual short sleepers, independent from any diagnosed sleep disorders.

A polysomnographic study of slow-wave sleep loss in elderly patients with epilepsy

“…However, the relationship between this parameter and epilepsy is rarely reported in the literature. The spontaneous microarousal index has been associated with disrupted sleep continuity and sleep fragmentation in previous studies [ 33 ], as well as heightened autonomic nerve excitability after accounting for the influence of respiration, snoring, and leg movement [ 34 ]. Patients with epilepsy often experience potential autonomic dysfunction and epileptic seizures, which can spread to autonomic nerve control center, such as specific areas of the brain stem and subcallosal areas, resulting in acute heart and respiratory problems [ 35 ].…”