Heart rate variability during sleep onset in patients with insomnia with or without comorbid sleep apnea.

Objectives: Pre-sleep stress or hyperarousal is a known key etiological component in insomnia disorder. Despite this, physiological alterations during the sleep onset are not well-understood. In particular, insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are highly prevalent co-morbid conditions, where autonomic regulation may be altered.

Effects of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid on the inflammatory response to experimental sleep restriction in healthy humans.

Background: Sleep deficiencies, such as manifested in short sleep duration or insomnia symptoms, are known to increase the risk for multiple disease conditions involving immunopathology. Inflammation is hypothesized to be a mechanism through which deficient sleep acts as a risk factor for these conditions. Thus, one potential way to mitigate negative health consequences associated with deficient sleep is to target inflammation.

Prolonged experimental sleep disturbance affects the inflammatory resolution pathways in healthy humans.

Background: Sleep disturbances, as manifested in insomnia symptoms of difficulties falling asleep or frequent nighttime awakenings, are a strong risk factor for a diverse range of diseases involving immunopathology. Low-grade systemic inflammation has been frequently found associated with sleep disturbances and may mechanistically contribute to increased disease risk. Effects of sleep disturbances on inflammation have been observed to be long lasting and remain after recovery sleep has been obtained, suggesting that sleep disturbances may not only affect inflammatory mediators, but also the so-called specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) that actively resolve inflammation.

Timing of restricted sleep: mood and neurobehavioral outcomes in healthy sleepers.

Study Objective: To evaluate how nocturnal timing of sleep restriction affects vigilant attention and mood in healthy controls with normal sleep-wake patterns.

Methods: A convenience sample from two controlled sleep restriction protocols were used to investigate the difference between 4 hours of sleep early in the night, versus 4 hours late in the night. Volunteers stayed in a hospital setting and were randomized to one of the three conditions: a control (8 hours of sleep each night), an early short sleep (ESS, 2300-0300 hours), and a late short sleep (LSS, 0300-0700 hours).

Impact of Pulmonary and Sleep Disorders on COVID-19 Infection Severity in a Large Clinical Biobank.

Rationale: Multiple pulmonary, sleep, and other disorders are associated with the severity of Covid-19 infections but may or may not directly affect the etiology of acute Covid-19 infection. Identifying the relative importance of concurrent risk factors may prioritize respiratory disease outbreaks research.

Objectives: To identify associations of common preexisting pulmonary and sleep disease on acute Covid-19 infection severity, investigate the relative contributions of each disease and selected risk factors, identify sex-specific effects, and examine whether additional electronic health record (EHR) information would affect these associations.

Dismantling the Component-Specific Effects of Yogic Breathing: Feasibility of a Fully Remote Three-Arm RCT with Virtual Laboratory Visits and Wearable Physiology.

Despite the growing research base examining the benefits and physiological mechanisms of slow-paced breathing (SPB), mindfulness (M), and their combination (as yogic breathing, SPB + M), no studies have directly compared these in a "dismantling" framework. To address this gap, we conducted a fully remote three-armed feasibility study with wearable devices and video-based laboratory visits. Eighteen healthy participants (age 18-30 years, 12 female) were randomized to one of three 8-week interventions: slow-paced breathing (SPB, = 5), mindfulness (M, = 6), or yogic breathing (SPB + M, = 7).

Changes in Sleep Regularity and Perceived Life Stress across the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of a Predominately Female United States Convenience Sample.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a profound impact on sleep and psychological well-being for individuals worldwide. This pre-registered investigation extends our prior study by tracking self-reported social jetlag (SJL), social sleep restriction (SSR), and perceived life stress from May 2020 through October 2021. Using web-based surveys, we collected self-reported sleep information with the Ultrashort Munich Chronotype Questionnaire at three additional timepoints (September 2020, February 2021 and October 2021).

Differential effects of an experimental model of prolonged sleep disturbance on inflammation in healthy females and males.

Sleep disturbances, including disrupted sleep and short sleep duration, are highly prevalent and are prospectively associated with an increased risk for various widespread diseases, including cardiometabolic, neurodegenerative, chronic pain, and autoimmune diseases. Systemic inflammation, which has been observed in populations experiencing sleep disturbances, may mechanistically link disturbed sleep with increased disease risks. To determine whether sleep disturbances are causally responsible for the inflammatory changes reported in population-based studies, we developed a 19-day in-hospital experimental model of prolonged sleep disturbance inducing disrupted and shortened sleep.

Causes and Consequences of Chronic Sleep Deficiency and the Role of Orexin.

Sleep is one of the pillars of health. Experimental models of acute sleep loss, of chronic partial sleep deprivation, and of sleep fragmentation in healthy sleepers are helpful models of sleep deficiency produced by insufficient sleep duration, sleep timing, and sleep disorders. Sleep deficiency is associated with changes in markers associated with risk for disease.

Macro- and microvascular reactivity during repetitive exposure to shortened sleep: sex differences.

Epidemiological studies have reported strong association between sleep loss and hypertension with unknown mechanisms. This study investigated macrovascular and microcirculation changes and inflammatory markers during repetitive sleep restriction. Sex differences were also explored.

The role of insomnia in the association between posttraumatic stress disorder and hypertension.

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with incident hypertension. Although this relationship is poorly understood, PTSD is also associated with insomnia symptoms, which increases the risk for hypertension. Whether insomnia contributes to PTSD-associated risk for hypertension is unknown.

Sleep Duration and Blood Pressure: Recent Advances and Future Directions.

Purpose Of Review: This review discusses the recent literature on subjectively and objectively assessed sleep duration in relation to hypertension risk and out-of-clinic blood pressure (BP) measures and highlights critical areas for future research.

Recent Findings: Sleep duration, particularly short sleep, may influence BP through disturbed autonomic balance, hormonal imbalances, increased adiposity and metabolic dysfunction, and disrupted circadian rhythms. Observational studies indicate that short and long sleep are associated with hypertension risk, reduced nocturnal dipping, and elevated morning BP, but evidence is stronger for short sleep.

Workplace Interventions to Promote Sleep Health and an Alert, Healthy Workforce.

Study Objectives: The purpose of this review is to synthesize the published literature that addresses employer-initiated interventions to improve the sleep of workers and in turn improve health, productivity, absenteeism, and other outcomes that have been associated with sleep disorders or sleep deficiency.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search and a selective narrative review of publications in PubMed from 1966 to December 2017. We extracted study characteristics, including the workers' professions, workplace settings and shift work, and workplace interventions focused on worker sleep.

Heart rate variability rebound following exposure to persistent and repetitive sleep restriction.

While it is well established that slow-wave sleep electroencephalography (EEG) rebounds following sleep deprivation, very little research has investigated autonomic nervous system recovery. We examined heart rate variability (HRV) and cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) during four blocks of repetitive sleep restriction and sequential nights of recovery sleep. Twenty-one healthy participants completed the 22-day in-hospital protocol.

Sleep Duration and Hypertension: Analysis of > 700,000 Adults by Age and Sex.

Study Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the cross-sectional relationship between sleep duration and hypertension in a large, nationally-representative dataset that spans 10 years. This analysis may provide detailed information with high resolution about how sleep duration is related to hypertension and how this differs by demographic group.

Methods: Data were aggregated from the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 433,386) and the combined 2007-2016 National Health Interview Surveys (n = 295,331).

Repetitive exposure to shortened sleep leads to blunted sleep-associated blood pressure dipping.

Background: Blood pressure (BP) dips at night during sleep in healthy individuals but in disturbed sleep, dipping is blunted. However, the impact of chronic insufficient sleep duration, with limited intermittent recovery sleep, on BP dipping is not known. The objective of this study was to examine, in a controlled experimental model, the influence of chronic sleep restriction on BP patterns at night and during the day.

Development of the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project Sleep Health Surveillance Questions.

Objectives: For the first time ever, as emphasized by inclusion in the Healthy People 2020 goals, sleep health is an emphasis of national health aims. The National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project (NHSAP) was tasked to propose questions for inclusion in the next Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a survey that includes a number of questions that target behaviors thought to impact health, as a means to measure community sleep health. The total number of questions could not exceed five, and had to include an assessment of the risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).