Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2012 Jan;83(1):8-15. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.016. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
Cognitive hyperarousal, resulting in enhanced cognitive activation, has been cited as an important contributor to the development and preservation of insomnia. To further understand this process, our study examined the effects of acutely-induced pre-sleep cognitive hyperarousal on sleep onset processes in healthy volunteers. Following an adaptation night, 15 subjects slept two nights in our sleep laboratory: one reference night and another one with cognitive arousal induction, in a counterbalanced order. In the cognitive arousal condition, subjects worked through half an hour of cognitive tasks without interference of an emotional component prior to retiring to bed. Objective sleep onset latency was significantly prolonged in the cognitive arousal condition compared to the reference condition. Significantly more high frequency activity was recorded during the first and second deep-sleep period. Moreover, differences in heart rate and proximal temperature during and after sleep onset were observed in the nights after the cognitive induction. Pre-sleep cognitive activation successfully induced a significant cognitive load and activation in our subjects to influence subsequent sleep (onset) processes.
认知过度兴奋，导致认知激活增强，被认为是失眠发展和维持的一个重要因素。为了进一步了解这一过程，我们的研究考察了急性诱导的睡前认知兴奋对健康志愿者入睡过程的影响。在适应夜间之后，15 名受试者在我们的睡眠实验室中睡了两个晚上：一个是参考夜间，另一个是认知唤醒诱导夜间，以平衡的方式进行。在认知唤醒条件下，受试者在睡前半小时内进行认知任务，而不受情绪成分的干扰。与参考条件相比，认知唤醒条件下的客观入睡潜伏期明显延长。在第一个和第二个深度睡眠期间，记录到的高频活动明显增加。此外，在认知诱导后的夜间，观察到入睡时和入睡后心率和近端温度的差异。睡前认知激活成功地在我们的受试者中引起了显著的认知负荷和激活，从而影响了随后的睡眠（起始）过程。
