title: Relationship between electroencephalogram slow-wave magnitude and heart rate variability during sleep in humans.
abstract: To explore whether depth of sleep is related to changes in autonomic control, continuous power-spectral analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) was performed in ten normal subjects during nocturnal sleep. Quiet sleep (QS) was associated with an increase in high-frequency power (HF) of HRV (0.15-0.4 Hz) but a decrease in low-frequency power (LF) (0.04-0.15 Hz) to HF ratio (LF/HF) compared with awakening. During QS, LF/HF was significantly and negatively correlated with delta power of EEG (0.5-4.0 Hz), whereas mean R-R interval and HF were not. We conclude that during QS, cardiac sympathetic regulation is negatively related to the depth of sleep, although vagal regulation is not. Our methodology offers a quantitative analysis to study the interaction between cerebral cortical and autonomic functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 970, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheryl C H
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chi-Wan
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Hsien Yong
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Terry B J
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Kuo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003700:Delta Rhythm / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*