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NREM sleep oscillations are altered in young adults with heightened anxiety
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NREM sleep oscillations are altered in young adults with heightened anxiety

Hazal Arpaci, Nandita Banik, Pınar Kurdoglu Ersoy, Ciara Harrington, Aycan Kapucu and Bengi Baran
Iowa research online
University of Iowa
10/29/2024
DOI: 10.17077/pp.006689
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https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.70050View
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Abstract

Non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) oscillations are critical for cognitive and affective processing. While several studies link anxiety symptoms to sleep quality, a critical gap remains in elucidating the role of NREM physiology in sleep-dependent processing of affect and anxiety symptoms. The goals of the present study were to determine whether heightened trait anxiety alters sleep architecture, NREM oscillations and emotional memory consolidation, and investigate the relations of NREM oscillations with state anxiety and affect. Forty-two participants were recruited from a larger cohort of college students based on self-reported high (>2SD cohort mean, n=26) vs low levels of trait anxiety (<2SD cohort mean, n=16) for a 2-hr polysomnography monitored mid-day nap. Memory for negative and neutral picture stimuli were tested over this nap interval. We observed significantly reduced slow oscillation (SO) activity in the High Anxiety group but no changes to macro features of sleep (sleep duration, latency, efficiency or stage distributions). Sleep spindles and SO predicted post-nap state anxiety and negative affect. Importantly, these were independent relationships in opposing directions such that higher SO activity was associated with reduced negative affect and state anxiety, whereas spindle activity correlated with higher negative affect and anxiety. There were no group differences in emotional memory, nor did sleep parameters correlate with memory performance. These findings reflect that NREM oscillations are uniquely sensitive to both trait and state level variability in anxiety and affect, highlighting their potential as a novel treatment target.
 sleep oscillations anxiety affect non-rapid eye movement sleep

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