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Abstract
In previous sleep studies, it has been demonstrated that Poincare plots of RR intervals,
which provide a beat to beat dynamic measure of heart rate variability, have distinctive
and characteristic patterns according to sleep stages. This study was designed to
evaluate the temporal relationship between heart rate variability and sleep electroencephalographic
activity (EEG) by using the Pearson's interbeat autocorrelation coefficients of RR
intervals derived from the Poincare plots. The coefficients were calculated in 12
subjects over each minute and were related to the profiles of EEG mean frequency (0.5-35
Hz) computed using a Fast Fourier Transformation algorithm. Overnight profiles of
interbeat autocorrelation coefficients and of EEG mean frequency were found to be
related with highly significant cross-correlation coefficients ranging between 0.216
and 0.638 (P < 0.001). The variations in heart rate variability preceded changes in
brain activity by 1-2 min. These results demonstrate that beat to beat heart rate
variability and EEG activity are closely linked during sleep in normal man.