title: Sleep Spindles Characteristics in Insomnia Sufferers and Their Relationship with Sleep Misperception.
abstract: Cortical hyperarousal is higher in insomnia sufferers (INS) than in good sleepers (GS) and could be related to an alteration in sleep protection mechanisms, like reduced density or altered characteristics in sleep spindles. The deficient sleep protection mechanisms might in turn enhance underestimation of sleep. This study's objective was to document sleep spindles characteristics in INS compared with GS and to investigate their potential role in sleep consolidation and misperception. Seventeen individuals with paradoxical insomnia (PARA-I), 24 individuals with psychophysiological insomnia (PSY-I), and 29 GS completed four consecutive polysomnographic nights in laboratory. Sleep spindles were detected automatically during stage 2 and SWS (3-4) on night 3. Number, density, duration, frequency, and amplitude of sleep spindles were calculated. A misperception index was used to determine the degree of discrepancy between subjective and objective total sleep times. Kruskal-Wallis H tests and post hoc tests revealed that PARA-I had significantly shorter sleep spindles than GS but that PSY-I and GS did not differ on spindles length. A standard multiple regression model revealed that neither sleep spindles characteristics nor objective sleep measures were predictive of sleep misperception. A longer duration of spindles could reflect a higher gating process but this hypothesis still needs to be confirmed in replication studies.
authors.affiliation: École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada G1V 0A6.
authors.forename: Marie-Pier
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4898-8893
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Normand
authors.affiliation: École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada G1V 0A6.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3180-2466
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: St-Hilaire
authors.affiliation: École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada G1V 0A6; Laboratoire de Neurosciences Comportementales Humaines du Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada G1J 2G3.
authors.forename: Célyne H
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9236-9125
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Bastien
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014851:Wakefulness; D055815:Young Adult