Can the Brain's Thermostatic Mechanism Generate Sleep-Wake and NREM-REM Sleep Cycles? A Nested Doll Model of Sleep-Regulating Processes.

ABSTRACT: Evidence is gradually accumulating in support of the hypothesis that a process of thermostatic brain cooling and warming underlies sleep cycles, i.e., the alternations between non-rapid-eye-movement and rapid-eye-movement sleep throughout the sleep phase of the sleep-wake cycle. A mathematical thermostat model predicts an exponential shape of fluctuations in temperature above and below the desired temperature setpoint. If the thermostatic process underlies sleep cycles, can this model explain the mechanisms governing the sleep cyclicities in humans? The proposed nested doll model incorporates Process s generating sleep cycles into Process S generating sleep-wake cycles of the two-process model of sleep-wake regulation. Process s produces ultradian fluctuations around the setpoint, while Pr

SUBMITTER: Putilov AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10885066 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature