Sleep
-
The goal of the study was to seek physiological correlates of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is a dissociated state with aspects of waking and dreaming combined in a way so as to suggest a specific alteration in brain physiology for which we now present preliminary but intriguing evidence. We show that the unusual combination of hallucinatory dream activity and wake-like reflective awareness and agentive control experienced in lucid dreams is paralleled by significant changes in electrophysiology. ⋯ Our data show that lucid dreaming constitutes a hybrid state of consciousness with definable and measurable differences from waking and from REM sleep, particularly in frontal areas.
-
Dorsal subcoeruleus (SubCD) neurons are thought to promote PGO waves and to be modulated by cholinergic afferents during REM sleep. We examined the differential effect of the cholinergic agonist carbachol (CAR) on excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (PSCs), and investigated the effects of CAR on SubCD neurons during the developmental decrease in REM sleep. ⋯ We hypothesize that during REM sleep, cholinergic "REM-on" neurons that project to the SubCD induce an excitation of inhibitory interneurons and inhibition of excitatory events leading to the production of coordinated activity in SubCD projection neurons. The coordination of these projection neurons may be essential for the production of REM sleep signs such as PGO waves.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Diclofenac potassium restores objective and subjective measures of sleep quality in women with primary dysmenorrhea.
Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological disorder that disrupts daytime functioning and nighttime sleep quality. We determined the effectiveness of diclofenac potassium, compared to placebo, in alleviating nighttime pain and restoring sleep architecture in women with primary dysmenorrhea. ⋯ Diclofenac potassium effectively attenuates nighttime dysmenorrheic pain and restores subjective and objective measures of sleep quality to values recorded in a pain-free phase of the menstrual cycle.
-
Past studies have shown that acute experimental reduction of time in bed in otherwise healthy, non-sleepy people leads to hyperalgesia. We hypothesized that otherwise healthy, sleepy people may also exhibit hyperalgesia relative to their non-sleepy counterparts. ⋯ This suggests that sleepy individuals experience hyperalgesia in response to a painful stimulus when compared with non-sleepy individuals.
-
To aid in the identification of patients with moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), we developed and validated a simple screening tool applicable to both clinical and community settings. ⋯ These findings suggest that our screening scoring system is a valid tool for the identification and assessment of moderate-to-severe SDB. With knowledge of only 4 easily ascertainable variables, which are routinely checked during daily clinical practice or mass health screening, moderate-to-severe SDB can be easily detected in clinical and public health settings.