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Objective

We examined the effects of the various sleep stages on baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and heart rate and blood pressure (BP) variability, and tested the hypothesis that there is a different behavior of the baroreflex control of the sinus node in response to hypertensive and hypotensive stimuli and in relation to different cycles of the overnight sleep.

Design

Polygraphic sleep recordings were performed in 10 healthy males. The BP and the RR interval were continuously recorded during sleep.

Methods

BRS was calculated by the sequences method. Autoregressive power spectral analysis was used to investigate the RR-interval and BP variabilities.

Results

During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep BRS significantly increased in response to hypertensive stimuli in comparison with non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and the awake state, whereas it did not change in response to hypotensive stimuli. In the first …