Huwiler Stephanie, Ferster M Laura, Brogli Luzius, Huber Reto, Karlen Walter, Lustenberger Caroline
Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Mobile Health Systems Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Sleep Res. 2025 Apr;34(2):e14328. doi: 10.1111/jsr.14328. Epub 2024 Sep 2.
The autonomic nervous system regulates cardiovascular activity during sleep, likely impacting cardiovascular health. Aging, a primary cardiovascular risk factor, is associated with cardiac autonomic disbalance and diminished sleep slow waves. Therefore, slow waves may be linked to aging, autonomic activity and cardiovascular health. However, it is unclear how sleep and slow waves are linked to cardiac autonomic profiles across multiple nights in older adults. We conducted a randomized, crossover trial involving healthy adults aged 62-78 years. Across 2 weeks, we applied auditory stimulation to enhance slow waves and compared it with a SHAM period. We measured sleep parameters using polysomnography and derived heart rate, heart rate variability approximating parasympathetic activity, and blood pulse wave approximating sympathetic activity from a wearable. Here, we report the results of 14 out of 33 enrolled participants, and show that heart rate, heart rate variability and blood pulse wave within sleep stages differ between the first and second half of sleep. Furthermore, baseline slow-wave activity was related to cardiac autonomic activity profiles during sleep. Moreover, we found auditory stimulation to reduce heart rate variability, while heart rate and blood pulse wave remained unchanged. Lastly, within subjects, higher heart rate coincided with increased slow-wave activity, indicating enhanced autonomic activation when slow waves are pronounced. Our study shows the potential of cardiac autonomic markers to offer insights into participants' baseline slow-wave activity when recorded over multiple nights. Furthermore, we highlight that averaging cardiac autonomic parameters across a night may potentially mask dynamic effects of auditory stimulation, potentially playing a role in maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system.
自主神经系统在睡眠期间调节心血管活动，可能会影响心血管健康。衰老作为主要的心血管危险因素，与心脏自主神经失衡及睡眠慢波减少有关。因此，慢波可能与衰老、自主神经活动及心血管健康相关。然而，目前尚不清楚在老年人中，睡眠和慢波如何在多个夜晚与心脏自主神经特征相联系。我们进行了一项随机交叉试验，纳入了62 - 78岁的健康成年人。在两周时间里，我们应用听觉刺激来增强慢波，并将其与假刺激期进行比较。我们使用多导睡眠图测量睡眠参数，并从可穿戴设备中获取心率、近似副交感神经活动的心率变异性以及近似交感神经活动的脉搏波。在此，我们报告了33名入组参与者中14人的结果，结果显示睡眠各阶段的心率、心率变异性和脉搏波在睡眠的前半段和后半段有所不同。此外，基线慢波活动与睡眠期间的心脏自主神经活动特征相关。而且，我们发现听觉刺激会降低心率变异性，而心率和脉搏波保持不变。最后，在个体内部，较高的心率与增加的慢波活动同时出现，表明慢波明显时自主神经激活增强。我们的研究表明，在多个夜晚记录时，心脏自主神经标志物有可能为了解参与者的基线慢波活动提供线索。此外，我们强调，在一个晚上平均计算心脏自主神经参数可能会掩盖听觉刺激的动态效应，而这可能在维持健康的心血管系统中发挥作用。
