0280 Association Of Sleep Architecture With Self-reported Sleep Quality And Sleepiness In Women Exposed To Repeated Experimental Sleep Fragmentation To Model Menopause-related Sleep Changes

Abstract

Introduction Menopause-related sleep disruption manifests as increased nighttime awakenings commonly associated with hot flashes, and with shifting toward more N1 sleep. Using an experimental model of sleep interruption, we examined the association of changes in EEG sleep architecture with changes in self-reported sleep quality and sleepiness. Methods To date, 5 healthy women [mean (±SD) age 28.4 ± 6.4 years] have completed 3 consecutive inpatient nights at our Intensive Physiologic Monitoring Unit. Participants received 9-h sleep opportunities (11pm - 8am) involving 1 h of experimentally induced wake after sleep onset (WASO) and allowing for up to 8 h of sleep. An automated auditory stimulus was delivered every 15 min (range 60-90 dB) to initiate wake and repeated every 10 sec to maintain wake for 2 consecutive minutes each time wake was initiated. Wakefulness was confirmed by event-marks during polysomnographically-recorded sleep. Self-reported sleep quality and sleepiness were assessed upon awakening each morning on 7-point scales. Results The fragmentation protocol induced [mean (±SD)] 57.6 ± 23.8 min of WASO with 7.9 ± 0.5 h of total sleep time (TST) across the 3 nights. Across the 3 nights, the amount of WASO and TST were similar (p≥0.63), whereas N3 sleep increased significantly (p=0.02). While the number of wake-initiation responses did not differ across the 3 nights (p=0.32), the response time to waking and failure to maintain wakefulness increased significantly across the nights (both p<0.01). As participants progressed across the 3 nights, complaints of poor sleep quality increased in relation to increasing REM sleep (r2=0.77, p<0.01), and complaints of increasing sleepiness in association with decreasing N2 sleep (r2=0.79, p<0.01). Neither outcome correlated with changes in TST, WASO, N1 or N3 sleep time (p≥0.15). Conclusion Changes in self-reported sleep quality and sleepiness are associated with changes in sleep architecture induced by repeated sleep interruption in women. These results have important implications for understanding the shifts in sleep architecture associated with menopause and hot-flash associated sleep disruption. Support (If Any) NIH-NIA R01AG053838.