Hypnotic enhancement of slow-wave sleep increases sleep-associated hormone secretion and reduces sympathetic predominance in healthy humans.

ABSTRACT: Sleep is important for normal brain and body functioning, and for this, slow-wave sleep (SWS), the deepest stage of sleep, is assumed to be especially relevant. Previous studies employing methods to enhance SWS have focused on central nervous components of this sleep stage. However, SWS is also characterized by specific changes in the body periphery, which are essential mediators of the health-benefitting effects of sleep. Here we show that enhancing SWS in healthy humans using hypnotic suggestions profoundly affects the two major systems linking the brain with peripheral body functions, i.e., the endocrine and the autonomic nervous systems (ANS). Specifically, hypnotic suggestions presented at the beginning of a 90-min afternoon nap to promote subsequent SWS strongly increased the release

SUBMITTER: Besedovsky L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9325885 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature