Deep sleep oscillations are proposed to be central in restoring brain function and to affect different aspects of motor performance such as facilitating the consolidation of motor sequences resulting in faster and more accurate sequence tapping. Yet, whether deep sleep modulates performance fatigability during fatiguing tasks remains unexplored. We investigated overnight changes in tapping speed and resistance against performance fatigability via a finger tapping task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe autonomic nervous system regulates cardiovascular activity during sleep, likely impacting cardiovascular health. Aging, a primary cardiovascular risk factor, is associated with cardiac autonomic disbalance and diminished sleep slow waves. Therefore, slow waves may be linked to aging, autonomic activity and cardiovascular health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Enhancing slow waves, the electrophysiological (EEG) manifestation of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, could potentially benefit patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) by improving sleep quality and slowing disease progression. Phase-targeted auditory stimulation (PTAS) is an approach to enhance slow waves, which are detected in real-time in the surface EEG signal.
Objective: We aimed to test whether the local-field potential of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-LFP) can be used to detect frontal slow waves and assess the electrophysiological changes related to PTAS.
Slow waves, the hallmark feature of deep nonrapid eye movement sleep, do potentially drive restorative effects of sleep on brain and body functions. Sleep modulation techniques to elucidate the functional role of slow waves thus have gained large interest. Auditory slow wave stimulation is a promising tool; however, directly comparing auditory stimulation approaches within a night and analyzing induced dynamic brain and cardiovascular effects are yet missing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Auditory stimulation has emerged as a promising tool to enhance non-invasively sleep slow waves, deep sleep brain oscillations that are tightly linked to sleep restoration and are diminished with age. While auditory stimulation showed a beneficial effect in lab-based studies, it remains unclear whether this stimulation approach could translate to real-life settings.
Methods: We present a fully remote, randomized, cross-over trial in healthy adults aged 62-78 years (clinicaltrials.
Sleep plays an essential role in human life. While sleep is a state elicited by the brain, its vital role reaches beyond maintaining brain health. Unhealthy sleeping habits have been associated with increased risk for inflammation, obesity, or diabetes.
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