Premium
Alcohol Has a Dose‐Related Effect on Parasympathetic Nerve Activity During Sleep
Author(s) -
Sagawa Yohei,
Kondo Hideaki,
Matsubuchi Namiko,
Takemura Takaubu,
Kanayama Hironobu,
Kaneko Yoshihiko,
Kanbayashi Takashi,
Hishikawa Yasuo,
Shimizu Tetsuo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01558.x
Subject(s) - anesthesia , heart rate variability , polysomnography , medicine , heart rate , ethanol , sleep stages , sleep (system call) , spectral analysis , chemistry , blood pressure , apnea , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , spectroscopy , computer science , operating system
Background: The aim of this study was to identify the acute effects of ethanol on the relationship between sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep. Methods: Ten healthy male university students were enrolled in this study. An alcoholic beverage was given to each subject at a dosage of 0 (control), 0.5 (low dose: LD), or 1.0 g (high dose: HD) of pure ethanol/kg of body weight. All experiments were performed at 3‐week intervals. On the day of the experiment, a Holter electrocardiogram was attached to the subject for a 24‐hour period, and the subject was instructed to drink the above‐described dosage of alcoholic beverage 100 minutes before going to bed; polysomnography was then performed for 8 hours. Power spectral analysis of the HRV was performed using the maximum entropy method, and the low‐ (LF: 0.04 to 0.15 Hz) and high‐frequency (HF: 0.15 to 0.4 Hz) components along with LF/HF ratio were calculated. Results: As alcohol consumption increased, the heart rate increased and the spectral power of HRV measured at each frequency range decreased. Higher doses of ethanol also increased the LF/HF ratio compared with the measured ratio of the control group. Conclusions: Acute ethanol intake inhibits parasympathetic nerve activity and results in predominance of sympathetic nerve activity during sleep, in a dosage‐dependent manner. The results of this study suggest that ethanol interferes with the restorative functions of sleep.