The discovery by researchers at the University of Liège’s Cyclotron Research Center GIGA reveals that the sleeping body also responds to the outside world during sleep, and how information from the sensory environment influences the quality of sleep. It explains what to do.

Researchers from Uliège, in collaboration with the University of Friborg in Switzerland, investigated whether the body truly disconnects from the outside world during sleep. To do so, they focused on how heartbeats change when hearing different words during sleep. They found that relaxing words slowed heart activity, reflecting deep sleep, and that they also slowed heart activity compared to neutral words that had no such slowing effect. I discovered. This discovery is sleep research journal and Sheds new light on brain-heart interactions during sleep.

Matthieu Koroma (Foundation for Scientific Research – FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher), Christina Schmidt and Athena Demertzi (both Funded for Scientific Research – FNRS Research Associate) from the GIGA Cyclotron Research Center in Uliège, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Friborg, carried out the analysis. led the previous research. Brain data (electroencephalograms) showing that relaxing words improve deep sleep duration and sleep quality show that using meaningful words can have a positive impact on sleep. By then, the authors hypothesized, the brain also still has the ability to interpret sensory information in a way that makes our bodies more relaxed after hearing relaxing words during sleep. In this new study, the authors had the opportunity to analyze the heart’s activity (electrocardiogram) to test this hypothesis, and found that the heart slowed down its activity only after presenting relaxing words, but not controlling words. It turns out that it slows down only later.

They then compared markers of both heart and brain activity to determine the extent to which they contribute to the regulation of sleep by auditory information. Indeed, heart activity has been proposed to contribute directly to how we perceive the world, but such evidence has so far been obtained during wakefulness. With these results, the ULiège researchers show that this also applies to sleep, providing a new perspective on the important role of physical responses beyond brain data in understanding sleep.

Most sleep research focuses on the brain, with little investigation of physical activity. ”

Dr. Christina Schmidt, Uriege GIGA Cyclotron Research Center

“Yet, we hypothesize that the brain and body are connected, even when they are completely unable to communicate, including during sleep. Therefore, how we think and react to our environment. To fully understand, we need to consider information from both the brain and the body.” Dr. Demerzi.

“We have freely shared our methodology in accordance with the principles of open science. We hope that the tools that helped make this discovery will inspire other researchers to study the role the heart plays in other sleep functions. I hope so,” claims Dr. Koroma.

This study provides a more comprehensive approach on the regulation of sleep function by sensory information. By examining the heart’s response to sound, researchers could, for example, future research into the body’s role in how sound affects emotional processing of memories during sleep.