Pupil size reveals arousal level fluctuations in human sleep.

ABSTRACT: Recent animal research has revealed the intricate dynamics of arousal levels that are important for maintaining proper sleep resilience and memory consolidation. In humans, changes in arousal level are believed to be a determining characteristic of healthy and pathological sleep but tracking arousal level fluctuations has been methodologically challenging. Here we measured pupil size, an established indicator of arousal levels, by safely taping the right eye open during overnight sleep and tested whether pupil size affects cortical response to auditory stimulation. We show that pupil size dynamics change as a function of important sleep events across different temporal scales. In particular, our results show pupil size to be inversely related to the occurrence of sleep spindle clusters, a

SUBMITTER: Carro-Dominguez M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11871316 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature