AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 258, Issue 3 650-R661, Copyright © 1990 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Time course of EEG power density during long sleep in humans

D. J. Dijk, D. P. Brunner and A. A. Borbely
Institute of Pharmacology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

In nine subjects sleep was recorded under base-line conditions with a habitual bedtime (prior wakefulness 16 h; lights off at 2300 h) and during recovery from sleep deprivation with a phase-advanced bedtime (prior wakefulness 36 h; lights off at 1900 h). The duration of phase-advanced recovery sleep was greater than 12 h in all subjects. Spectral analysis of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) revealed that slow-wave activity (SWA; 0.75-4.5 Hz) in non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep was significantly enhanced during the first two NREM-REM sleep cycles of displaced recovery sleep. The sleep stages 3 and 4 (slow-wave sleep) and SWA decreased monotonically over the first three and four NREM-REM cycles of, respectively, base-line and recovery sleep. The time course of SWA in base-line and recovery sleep could be adequately described by an exponentially declining function with a horizontal asymptote. The results are in accordance with the two-process model of sleep regulation in which it is assumed that SWA rises as a function of the duration of prior wakefulness and decreases exponentially as a function of prior sleep. We conclude that the present data do not provide evidence for a 12.5-h sleep-dependent rhythm of deep NREM sleep.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				O. G. Jenni, A. A. Borbely, and P. Achermann Development of the nocturnal sleep electroencephalogram in human infants Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2004; 286(3): R528 - R538. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Ferrara, L. De Gennaro, G. Curcio, R. Cristiani, C. Corvasce, and M. Bertini Regional Differences of the Human Sleep Electroencephalogram in Response to Selective Slow-wave Sleep Deprivation Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2002; 12(7): 737 - 748. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Heinzer, H. Gaudreau, A. Decary, E. Sforza, D. Petit, F. Morisson, and J. Montplaisir Slow-Wave Activity in Sleep Apnea Patients Before and After Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment : Contribution to Daytime Sleepiness Chest, June 1, 2001; 119(6): 1807 - 1813. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R.-S. Lee, S. C. Steffensen, and S. J. Henriksen Discharge Profiles of Ventral Tegmental Area GABA Neurons during Movement, Anesthesia, and the Sleep-Wake Cycle J. Neurosci., March 1, 2001; 21(5): 1757 - 1766. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. B. Berry, M. A. Asyali, M. I. McNellis, and M. C. K. Khoo Within-night variation in respiratory effort preceding apnea termination and EEG delta power in sleep apnea J Appl Physiol, October 1, 1998; 85(4): 1434 - 1441. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Endo, C. Roth, H.-P. Landolt, E. Werth, D. Aeschbach, P. Achermann, and A. A. Borbely Selective REM sleep deprivation in humans: effects on sleep and sleep EEG Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, April 1, 1998; 274(4): R1186 - R1194. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]