Schoch Sarah F, Jaramillo Valeria, Markovic Andjela, Huber Reto, Kohler Malcolm, Jenni Oskar G, Lustenberger Caroline, Kurth Salome
Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Center of Competence Sleep and Health Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
J Sleep Res. 2024 Apr;33(2):e13936. doi: 10.1111/jsr.13936. Epub 2023 May 22.
Adequate sleep is critical for development and facilitates the maturation of the neurophysiological circuitries at the basis of cognitive and behavioural function. Observational research has associated early life sleep problems with worse later cognitive, psychosocial, and somatic health outcomes. Yet, the extent to which day-to-day sleep behaviours (e.g., duration, regularity) in early life relate to non-rapid eye movement (NREM) neurophysiology-acutely and the long-term-remains to be studied. We measured sleep behaviours in 32 healthy 6-month-olds assessed with actimetry and neurophysiology with high-density electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the association between NREM sleep and habitual sleep behaviours. Our study revealed four findings: first, daytime sleep behaviours are related to EEG slow-wave activity (SWA). Second, night-time movement and awakenings from sleep are connected with spindle density. Third, habitual sleep timing is linked to neurophysiological connectivity quantified as delta coherence. And lastly, delta coherence at 6 months predicts night-time sleep duration at 12 months. These novel findings widen our understanding that infants' sleep behaviours are closely intertwined with three particular levels of neurophysiology: sleep pressure (determined by SWA), the maturation of the thalamocortical system (spindles), and the maturation of cortical connectivity (coherence). The crucial next step is to extend this concept to clinical groups to objectively characterise infants' sleep behaviours 'at risk' that foster later neurodevelopmental problems.
充足的睡眠对发育至关重要，并有助于认知和行为功能基础的神经生理回路成熟。观察性研究已将早期生活中的睡眠问题与后期较差的认知、心理社会和躯体健康结果联系起来。然而，早期生活中的日常睡眠行为（如持续时间、规律性）在急性和长期上与非快速眼动（NREM）神经生理学的关联程度仍有待研究。我们通过活动记录仪测量了32名6个月大健康婴儿的睡眠行为，并用高密度脑电图（EEG）评估了神经生理学，以研究NREM睡眠与习惯性睡眠行为之间的关联。我们的研究揭示了四个发现：第一，白天的睡眠行为与脑电图慢波活动（SWA）有关。第二，夜间的活动和睡眠中的觉醒与纺锤波密度有关。第三，习惯性睡眠时间与量化为δ连贯性的神经生理连通性有关。最后，6个月时的δ连贯性可预测12个月时的夜间睡眠时间。这些新发现拓宽了我们的认识，即婴儿的睡眠行为与神经生理学的三个特定水平密切相关：睡眠压力（由SWA决定）、丘脑皮质系统的成熟（纺锤波）和皮质连通性的成熟（连贯性）。关键的下一步是将这一概念扩展到临床群体，以客观地描述那些会导致后期神经发育问题的“有风险”婴儿的睡眠行为。
