Open AccessExposure to relaxing words during sleep promotes slow-wave sleep and subjective sleep quality
Author(s) -
Jonas Beck,
Erna Loretz,
Björn Rasch
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sleep
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.222
H-Index - 207
eISSN - 1550-9109
pISSN - 0161-8105
DOI - 10.1093/sleep/zsab148
Subject(s) - sleep (system call) , alertness , psychology , slow wave sleep , audiology , eye movement , non rapid eye movement sleep , sleep stages , relaxation (psychology) , medicine , polysomnography , neuroscience , psychiatry , electroencephalography , computer science , operating system
Our thoughts alter our sleep, but the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. We propose that mental processes are active to a greater or lesser extent during sleep and that this degree of activation affects our sleep depth. We examined this notion by activating the concept of “relaxation” during sleep using relaxation-related words in 50 healthy participants. In support of our hypothesis, playing relaxing words during non-rapid eye movement sleep extended the time spent in slow-wave sleep, increased power in the slow-wave activity band after the word cue, and abolished an asymmetrical sleep depth during the word presentation period. In addition, participants reported a higher sleep quality and elevated subjective alertness. Our results support the notion that the activation of mental concepts during sleep can influence sleep depth. They provide a basis for interventions using targeted activations to promote sleep depth and sleep quality to foster well-being and health.