title: An assessment of sleep architecture as a function of degree of handedness in college women using a home sleep monitor.
abstract: The present study examined sleep architecture as a function of handedness in a population of undergraduate college women using a home sleep monitor. Compared to strongly handed individuals, participants with a tendency toward mixed-handedness had a shorter sleep latency and spent a greater percentage of their sleep period asleep and less awake. Increasing mixed-handedness was also associated with increased NREM; strong-handedness was associated with increased REM. Results are placed in a neurophysiological framework wherein corpus callosum mediated differences in interhemispheric interaction during Wake, REM, and NREM on the one hand, and individual differences in corpus callosum morphology and hemispheric communication as a function of handedness on the other, interact to result in handedness differences in sleep architecture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA 01845, USA. ruth.propper@merrimack.edu
authors.forename: Ruth E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Propper
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lawton
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Przyborski
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Christman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000502:physiology; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008838:Microcomputers; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology