Heart rate variability during sleep as a function of the sleep cycle.
In this work, in order to evaluate whether autonomic differences distinguish REM sleep and NREM sleep through the whole sleeping period, statistical analysis on spectral power associated with low frequency and high frequency bands were performed on the whole polysomnographic recording, considering the sleep cycle as a unit of sleep. Our results from nine subjects show that power associated with low frequency is higher in REM sleep than in NREM sleep, while power associated with high frequency is significantly higher in NREM sleep than in REM sleep. Differences between REM sleep and NREM sleep are not of the same magnitude within the whole sleep episode and, independent of sleep stages, specific trends are observable in the autonomic control of heart rate during the night.
Department of Psychology, University of Trieste, Via S. Anastasio 12, 34134 Trieste, Italy. versace@psico.univ.trieste.it
Francesco
F
Versace
Manola
M
Mozzato
Giuliano
G
De Min Tona
Corrado
C
Cavallero
Luciano
L
Stegagno
D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*