The Science of Sleep

 

4:00PM  Integrated Sleep Stability: Dynamic Mapping of Sleep Oscillations in Health and Disease
Robert Thomas, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, rthomas1@bidmc.harvard.edu
Moderator: Ary L. Goldberger
, MD, Director, The Margret & H. A. Rey Institute for Nonlinear Dynamics in Medicine (ReyLab), BIDMC; Program Director, Research Resource for Complex Physiologic Signals, agoldber@caregroup.harvard.edu

Traditional approaches to sleep physiology utilize a graded methodology: characterizing increasing depths of non-REM or type (REM vs. non-REM). Dr. Thomas will present a new method: mapping integrated / coupled sleep oscillations, using a single channel of ECG. The resultant "sleep spectrogram" is rich in "hidden" biological information. He will present and discuss several examples, including tracking interactions of chemoreflex control with upper airway mechanics in sleep apnea. The ease of recording ambulatory ECG allows for repeat testing and dynamic tracking of physiology in health and disease.

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5:00PM  Modeling the Dynamics of Sleep Using State Space Analysis
Tom Scammell, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, tscammel@bidmc.harvard.edu
Moderator: Clifford B. Saper, MD, PhD, James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology, HMS; Chairman, Department of Neurology, BIDMC, csaper@bidmc.harvard.edu


Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy affect about 30% of the population and substantially impair driving, school and work performance, and many other facets of life. Sleep and wake states are complex, and our understanding of sleep and sleep disorders is limited by current sleep research techniques. Dr. Scammell will describe a new state / space analysis technique based upon spectral characteristics of the electroencephalogram that provides useful perspectives on the causes of sleepiness in narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

 

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