Abstract
Acoustic stimulation has been shown to enhance slow wave sleep and in turn, cognition, and now cardiac outcomes in young adults. With the emergence of commercial acoustic devices in the home, we sought to examine the impact of an acoustic, slow wave enhancing device on heart rate variability in healthy, middle-aged males (n = 24, 39.92 ± 4.15 years). Under highly controlled conditions, the participants were randomised to receive closed-loop brain state-dependent stimulation in the form of auditory tones (STIM), or no tones (SHAM), in a crossover design, separated by a 1 week washout period. STIM and SHAM were compared on measures of heart rate variability for the whole night and over the first three sleep cycles. We found an increase in slow wave activity following STIM compared with SHAM. There was a significant increase in high frequency power and standard deviation of the normalised RR-intervals (SDNN) during the STIM condition compared with SHAM (p < 0.05), due to changes observed specifically during N3. In conclusion, heart rate variability appears to improve following acoustic slow wave sleep enhancement.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e13545 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Sleep Research |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 25 Jan 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgments:We thank the study participants, technicians, staff, and students of the Monash University Sleep and Circadian Medicine Laboratory who supported with data collection, and Stephanie Yiallourou for support with the heart rate variability outcomes and interpretation. We also thank the Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity for research funding.
Keywords
- acoustic stimulation
- heart rate variability
- middle-aged men
- slow wave sleep enhancement