The Nature of Respiratory Changes Associated with Sleep Onset

Ventilation during sleep onset

“…The data is also consistent with changes in FetCO2 and abdominal/thoracic contributions to ventilation which have been reported to occur at sleep onset (Naifeh & Kamiya, 1981, Ogilvie & Wilkinson, 1984. These studies indicate a close association between central nervous system states, as indicated by the EEG and the respiratory changes; suggesting an interaction between neural structures controlling sleep and those controlling ventilation.…”

“…Associated with the lower level of ventilation during sleep, are increases in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide at the alveoli and in arterial blood (Birchfield et al, 1959;Bulow, 1963;Bulow & Ingvar, 1961;Douglas et al, 1982a;Douglas, White, Weil, Pickett & Zwillich, 1982c;Gothe et al, 1981;Gothe et al, 1982;Gothe et al, 1986;Hedemark & Kronenberg, 1982;Magnussen, 1944;Naifeh & Kamiya, 1981;Naifeh, Kamiya & Monroe-Sweet, 1982;Reed & Kellogg, 1958;1960a;1960b;Rist et al, 1986;Robin et al, 1958;Shore et al, 1985;Townsend, Prinz & Obrist, 1973;White, 1986;White et al, 1982). There is also a decrease in blood pH (Birchfield, 1959;Robin et al, 1958).…”

“…28 Naifeh and Kamiya (1981) reported the only attempt to quantify the temporal association of EEG and respiratory changes. In a study using twelve subjects they reported that on average sustained rises in carbon dioxide tension occurred eight seconds before the occurrence of stage one sleep.…”

Vigilance, alertness, or sustained attention: physiological basis and measurement

“…There are also physiologic changes in respiration. While there may be more rhythmic respirations during onset of sleep, there is also a relative fall in abdominal respiration compared to thoracic, a decrease in tidal volume, an increase in pCO 2 , a decrease in ventilatory responsiveness to hypercapnia and hypoxia, and an increase in airflow resistance (Colrain et al, 1987;Colrain et al, 1990;Naifeh and Kamiya, 1981;Ogilvie and Wilkinson, 1984;Trinder et al, 1992). The rhythmic deeper respiration during the sleep onset period produces the expected increase in heart rate variability measures secondary to sinus arrhythmia.…”

What subjective experiences determine the perception of falling asleep during sleep onset period?

“…It has been observed that this period is associated with marked changes in a host of physiological and behavioral phenomena, as well as in subjective experience (Ogilvie & Wilkinson, 1984). Physiological phenomena associated with sleep onset include: decrease in high frequency electroencephalographic (EEG) activities (e.g., Azekawa, Sei, & Morita, 1990;Davis, Davis, Loomis, Harvey, & Hobart, 1937, 1938Hori, 1985;Merica, Fortune, & Gaillard, 1991;Rechtschaffen & Kales, 1968;Tsuno et al, 2002); the absence and presence of different event-related potential (ERP) components (for review, see Campbell, Bell, & Bastien, 1992;Harsh, Voss, Hull, Schrepfer, & Badia, 1994); the appearance of slow eye movements (e.g., De Gennaro, Ferrara, Ferlazzo, & Bertini, 2000;Porte, 2004); the absence of elicited skin conductance responses (e.g., Johnson, 1970); a drop in the core body temperature and an increase in the distal skin temperature (e.g., Barrett, Lack, & Morris, 1993;Krauchi, Cajochen, Werth, & Wirz-Justice, 2000;Wehr, 1990); and, substantial, rapid reduction in respiration (e.g., Colrain, Trinder, Fraser, & Wilson, 1987;Naifeh & Kamiya, 1981). Behavioral indicators of sleep onset include: a decrease in sensory threshold, a cessation of responses to external stimuli (e.g., Anliker, 1966;Ogilvie & Simons, 1992;Ogilvie, Simons, Kuderian, MacDonald, & Rustenburg, 1991;Ogilvie & Wilkinson, 1984, 1988Ogilvie, Wilkinson, & Allison, 1989;Simon & Emmons, 1956), and a decrease in muscle strength (e.g., Jacobson, Kales, Lehmann, & Hoedemaker, 1964;Litchman, 1974) were also observed in the course of the sleep onset process.…”