Dual electroencephalogram markers of human sleep homeostasis: correlation between theta activity in waking and slow-wave activity in sleep
Section snippets
Subjects and study design
Eight healthy males (mean±S.E.M. age 23±0.46 years, range 21–25 years) recruited among university students participated in the study. They were right-handed, non-smokers, and reported a moderate consumption of alcohol and caffeine-containing beverages, and no drug use. They reported to adhere to regular bedtimes (sleep usually from 23.00 to 07.00) and not to suffer from sleep disturbances. Prior to being selected for the study, they underwent a screening night in the sleep laboratory. Exclusion
Electroencephalogram power spectra during waking
During prolonged wakefulness, power of the waking EEG increased in certain frequency bands. The mean changes after 36 h of waking relative to the mean level of the first 24 h are shown in Fig. 1 (left panel). Although the peak was located at 6.5 Hz, a significant increase was present over a large frequency range (0.75–9.0 Hz) and also included higher frequencies (11.0–16.5 Hz) (see F-values in bottom panel). The rise rate of power over the 40-h waking episode was determined for each 0.25-Hz
Discussion
The main result of this study is that EEG markers of sleep homeostasis in waking and sleep are closely related. This is illustrated in Fig. 6 by the data of the two subjects who showed the maximum and minimum SWA response to prolonged waking in conjunction with maximal and minimal rise rates of theta power (subject 10 was not considered). The line representing the increase of theta power in waking connects the two exponential functions that represent the decline of SWA during sleep. This
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui for providing the software to display the maps, and Drs Thomas Graf and Irene Tobler for comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation grant 3100-053005.97 and Human Frontiers Science Program grant RG-81/96.
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