Plasma catecholamines and selective slow wave sleep deprivation.

The present study evaluated the effect of slow wave sleep (SWS) deprivation on plasma levels of catecholamines in healthy male volunteers. Eleven volunteers spent 4 nights in the sleep laboratory (2 nights of habituation and 2 further nights); during the latter, 1 night served as control, and in the other, SWS deprivation was performed. Blood was drawn at 30-min intervals. SWS was reduced by 86%; no sleep stage 4 was observed during the SWS-deprived nights. SWS reduction was found not to correlate with catecholamine levels. However, epinephrine levels were found to be sensitive to sleep fragmentation. The time interval between arousals in the SWS-deprived night as well as the difference in sleep efficiency were related to increases in epinephrine levels (p < 0.01 and p < 0.025, respectively). These results support the view that continuity rather than the duration of SWS is important for the recuperative value of sleep.