The sleep phase was associated with a significantly lower scaling exponent (indicating stronger anticorrelations in heartbeat fluctuations) compared to the wake phase across healthy subjects, cosmonauts, and heart failure patients.
Observational (n=36)
Does the scaling behavior of the human heartbeat differ between sleep and wake periods across different populations?
Heartbeat fluctuations exhibit greater anticorrelation during sleep compared to wake periods, reflecting intrinsic changes in neuroautonomic control independent of activity levels.
Absolute Event Rate: 0.85% vs 1.05%
p-value: p=<10^-5
We compare scaling properties of the cardiac dynamics during sleep and wake periods for healthy individuals, cosmonauts during orbital flight, and subjects with severe heart disease. For all three groups, we find a greater degree of anticorrelation in the heartbeat fluctuations during sleep compared to wake periods. The sleep-wake difference in the scaling exponents for the three groups is comparable to the difference between healthy and diseased individuals. The observed scaling differences are not accounted for simply by different levels of activity, but appear related to intrinsic changes in the neuroautonomic control of the heartbeat.
Ivanov et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in Healthy, Congestive Heart Failure, and Space Flight (n=36). Sleep phase vs. Wake phase was evaluated on Scaling exponent (α) of heartbeat fluctuations using detrended fluctuation analysis (p=<10^-5). The sleep phase was associated with a significantly lower scaling exponent (indicating stronger anticorrelations in heartbeat fluctuations) compared to the wake phase across healthy subjects, cosmonauts, and heart failure patients.
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