The relationship between sleep and autonomic health

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between sleep and resting autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning in college students. Participants: Participants were 141 undergraduate students (52 males) recruited from a large southeastern university during September–October 2017. Methods: Participants completed self-report inventories (demographic and sleep characteristics). Resting state skin conductance (SC) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured in a laboratory setting for ANS functioning. Results: SC was positively associated with sleep quality (p = 0.027), sleep latency (p = 0.040), and use of sleep medication (p < 0.001). Analyses yielded a negative association between the standard deviation of the normal-normal interval of heart beats (SDNN) and the self-reported amount of time to fall asleep each night (p = 0.041). Sleep efficiency was negatively correlated with low frequency HRV (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Sleep components are associated with resting ANS activity, and targeted interventions focused on improved ANS functioning may benefit sleep quality in college students.

Keywords:

• Autonomic balance
• college students
• sleep behaviors
• well-being

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank our undergraduate research assistant Shawnna Matthews for her assistance in data collection.

Conflicts of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this manuscript meet the ethical guidelines outlined by the University’s Institutional Review Board and the National Institutes of Health.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Research Grants [MH59839 and MH115470].