High cardiac vagal control is related to better subjective and objective sleep quality

Werner, Gabriela G.; Ford, Brett Q.; Mauss, Iris B.; Schabus, Manuel; Blechert, Jens; Wilhelm, Frank H.

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.02.004

Cited by 73 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(103 reference statements)

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“…Others have shown that the impact of stress on the ANS during sleep is evident in real-life situations: higher levels of daily worry and stressors were associated with faster HR and lower HRV during waking and the subsequent sleep period in healthy men and women, with worry duration mediating the effect (Brosschot et al, 2007). On the other hand, higher resting vagal activity before bed is associated with better subjective and objective sleep quality in young women (Werner et al, 2015). …”

Section: 4 Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acute stress alters autonomic modulation during sleep in women approaching menopause

Zambotti

Sugarbaker

Trinder

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Hot flashes, hormones, and psychosocial factors contribute to insomnia risk in the context of the menopausal transition. Stress is a well-recognized factor implicated in the pathophysiology of insomnia; however the impact of stress on sleep and sleep-related processes in perimenopausal women remains largely unknown. We investigated the effect of an acute experimental stress (impending Trier Social Stress Task in the morning) on presleep measures of cortisol and autonomic arousal in perimenopausal women with and without insomnia that developed in the context of the menopausal transition. In addition, we assessed the macro- and micro-structure of sleep and autonomic functioning during sleep. Following adaptation to the laboratory, twenty two women with (age: 50.4 ± 3.2 y) and eighteen women without (age: 48.5±2.3 y) insomnia had two randomized in-lab overnight recordings: baseline and stress nights. Anticipation of the task resulted in higher pre-sleep salivary cortisol levels and perceived tension, faster heart rate and lower vagal activity, based on heart rate variability measures, in both groups of women. The effect of the stress manipulation on the autonomic nervous system extended into the first four hours of the night in both groups. However, vagal tone recovered four-six hours into the stress night in controls but not in the insomnia group. Sleep macrostructure was largely unaltered by the stress, apart from a delayed latency to REM sleep in both groups. Quantitative analysis of non-rapid eye movement sleep microstructure revealed greater electroencephalographic (EEG) power in the beta1 range (15-≤23Hz), reflecting greater EEG arousal during sleep, on the stress night compared to baseline, in the insomnia group. Hot flash frequency remained similar on both nights for both groups. These results show that presleep stress impacts autonomic nervous system functioning before and during sleep in perimenopausal women with and without insomnia. Findings also indicate that women with insomnia had increased EEG arousal and lacked recovery in vagal activity across the stress night suggesting a greater sensitivity to stress in this group.

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Section: 4 Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acute stress alters autonomic modulation during sleep in women approaching menopause

Zambotti

Sugarbaker

Trinder

et al. 2016

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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“…The investigation took place as part of a larger study in the Clinical Stress and Emotion Lab of the University of Salzburg (for further details see Werner, Ford, et al, 2015; Werner, Schabus, Blechert, Kolodyazhniy, & Wilhelm, 2015) including four visits to the lab (entrance examination and three nights in the lab). The whole study spanned 11 days.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 1 Results concerning pre-to postsleep changes in emotional reactivity to the aversive film in relation to REM sleep, and regarding links between resting CVC (wake as well as sleep stage related) and sleep quality (subjective as well as objective variables) have been reported separately (Werner, Ford, et al, 2015; Werner, Schabus, et al, 2015). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cardiac Vagal Control and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality

Werner

Ford

Mauss

et al. 2016

Behavioral Sleep Medicine

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Lower cardiac vagal control (CVC) has been linked to greater depression. However, this link has not been consistently demonstrated, suggesting the presence of key moderators. Sleep plausibly is one such factor. Therefore, we investigated whether sleep quality moderates the link between CVC (quantified by high-frequency heart rate variability, HF-HRV) and depressive symptoms (assessed using established questionnaires) in 29 healthy women. Results revealed a significant interaction between HF-HRV and sleep quality in predicting depressive symptoms: participants with lower HF-HRV reported elevated depressive symptoms only when sleep quality was also low. In contrast, HF-HRV was not associated with depressive symptoms when sleep quality was high, suggesting a protective function of high sleep quality in the context of lower CVC.

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“…Subjective sleep quality parameters, including the time it takes to fall asleep at night, have been associated with reduced parasympathetic tone during wake in clinical populations (Hovland et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2011), and in healthy young women without sleep disorders (Werner et al, 2015). During waking hours, adequate parasympathetic control of the heart may serve to accelerate inhibitory, de-arousal processes necessary for falling asleep at night, while reduced parasympathetic tone may impair these processes (Werner et al, 2015). Whether reduced parasympathetic tone throughout the day results from, or contributes to more difficulty falling asleep at night is not clear and warrants further research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insomnia symptoms and heart rate recovery among patients in cardiac rehabilitation

et al. 2016

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Insomnia symptoms (i.e., difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, and early morning awakenings) are common among people with cardiovascular disease, and have been linked to adverse cardiovascular health outcomes. Reduced parasympathetic tone is one pathway through which risk may be conferred. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether insomnia symptoms are associated with lower parasympathetic tone in cardiac rehabilitation patients with suspected insomnia. Participants (N = 121) completed a self-report measure of insomnia severity. 1-min heart rate recovery (HRR), an index of parasympathetic tone, was obtained during a maximal exercise test. Difficulty falling asleep, but not difficulty staying asleep or early awakenings, was associated with attenuated 1-min HRR. When analyses were restricted to participants with moderate and severe insomnia severity (n = 51), the strength of this association increased. In a sample of cardiac rehabilitation patients with insomnia, only the symptom of difficulty falling asleep was associated with lower parasympathetic tone, suggesting that individual insomnia symptoms may show specificity in their associations with physiological mechanisms.

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High cardiac vagal control is related to better subjective and objective sleep quality

Abstract: HighlightsCardiac vagal control (CVC) was measured during an extended standardized baseline.Subjective and polysomnographic variables of sleep quality were assessed.Higher CVC was found to be associated with better subjective and objective sleep quality.

Cited by 73 publications

References 63 publications

Acute stress alters autonomic modulation during sleep in women approaching menopause

Acute stress alters autonomic modulation during sleep in women approaching menopause

Cardiac Vagal Control and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Sleep Quality

Insomnia symptoms and heart rate recovery among patients in cardiac rehabilitation

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