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Role of Sleep in Cardiovascular Functions

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Sleep
Interventions
Other: Acoustic stimulation
Other: SHAM acoustic stimulation
Registration Number
NCT04166916
Lead Sponsor
Caroline Lustenberger
Brief Summary

Sleep and particularly deep sleep are playing an important role for brain and body health. Poor sleep has been associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease and moreover, is hypothesized to increased mortality risk of cardiovascular diseases. Yet, the role of specific sleep processes for cardiovascular function remains unclear. Particularly deep sleep, which is manifested by large amplitude, low frequency oscillations is of importance for the restorative functions of sleep. Thus, the modulation of deep sleep by auditory stimulation will be of central interests to assess the cause-effect relationship of specific processes within sleep for cardiovascular regulation.

This study will assess the effects of slow wave modulating auditory stimulation on cardiovasuclar functions in healthy male participants.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Male
Target Recruitment
71
Inclusion Criteria
  • Informed Consent
  • Good general health status
  • Male subjects 18-84 years of age
  • Native German speaker or good understanding of German
Exclusion Criteria
  • Contraindications on ethical grounds,
  • Known or suspected non-compliance, drug or alcohol abuse,
  • Regular medication intake that could pronouncedly affect outcomes of interest (e.g. beta-blocker)
  • Long (> 9.5 hours per night) or short sleepers (< 6.5 hours per night),
  • Smoking (regular smoker, >10 days per year, smoking not allowed during study participation)
  • Participation in another study with investigational drug/therapy/interventions within the 30 days preceding and during the present study (start date adapted accordingly),
  • Diseases or lesions of the nervous system (acute or residual included neurological and psychiatric diseases),
  • Clinically significant concomitant disease states (e.g., renal failure, hepatic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, etc.),
  • Pacemaker,
  • Intake of on-label sleep medication,
  • Presence or suspicion of sleep disorders (e.g., insomnia, sleep disordered breathing (apnea), restless legs syndrome). Possibility of apnea might be assessed in the screening night,
  • Body Mass Index < 18 or > 30 kg/m2,
  • Irregular sleep-wake rhythm (e.g. shift working),
  • Bad sleep quality during screening night (e.g. < 75% sleep efficiency in screening night)
  • Significant sleep complaints in general or excessive daytime sleepiness (PSQI > 5; ESS ≥ 11),
  • Travelling more than 2 time zones in the 2 weeks before experimental session starts or during intervention (start of experiment will be adapted to fit with this criteria),
  • Hearing disability/ hearing aid (only an exclusion if in a simple audiometry participants cannot hear intervention tone sound levels),
  • Skin disorders/problems/allergies (face region) that will significantly worsen with electrode application,
  • High caffeine consumption (> 5 servings/day; including coffee and caffeinated energy drinks),

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
CROSSOVER
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Slow waves enhancing acoustic stimulationAcoustic stimulationDuring non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, acoustic stimuli will be played to increase slow wave amplitude.
Slow waves decreasing acoustic stimulationAcoustic stimulationDuring NREM sleep acoustic stimuli will be played to decrease/modulate slow waves amplitude in a dose-dependent way (e.g. less pronounced than arm 1).
SHAM: no application of acoustic stimuliSHAM acoustic stimulationDuring NREM sleep no acoustic stimuli will be played.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Cardiac autonomic regulationcontinuously across approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by heart rate variability derived from electrocardiography

Change in cardiac autonomic regulationBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by changes in heart rate variability derived from electrocardiography

Heart ratecontinuously across approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

measured with electrocardiography

Change in heart rateBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

measured with electrocardiography

Marker for sleep depthcontinuously across approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

Slow wave activity assessed with high-density electroencephalography(hdEEG)

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in vascular functioningBefore and/or after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

Assessed by outcomes of blood profiles of vascular inflammation, pulmonal arterial pressure, intima media thickness, or echocardiography

Arterial pressure waveformcontinuously across approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by arterial pressure waveform measures

Change in arterial pressure waveformBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by arterial pressure waveform measures

Oxyen saturationcontinuously across approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by pulse oximetry

Overnight memory consolidationBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

Assessed by memory tasks

Changes in vigilanceBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by simple vigilance task

Changes in muscular fatigueBefore to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by simple muscular fatigue task

Changes in bandwidth of of 0.5-30 Hz of high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG)Before to after approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

Assessment of resting state and task-related hdEEG

HypnogramOver approximately 8 hours of sleep with and without acoustic stimulation

assessed by sleep staging of hdEEG data

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

ETH Zurich

🇨🇭

Zurich, Schweiz, Switzerland

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