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Abdullah A AlQatari,1 Jawad A Alturki,1 Komail A Abdulali,1 Dawood A Alhumud,1 Mohammed A Alibrahim,1 Yaser A Alarab,1 Ayad M Salem,2 Talay Yar,2 Yousef D Alqurashi,3 Ahmed A Alsunni,2 Shoug Al Humoud3 1College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Respiratory Care, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Ahmed A AlsunniDepartment of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaTel +966535255577Email aalsunni@iau.edu.saBackground and Objectives: Changes in autonomic cardiac activity during night sleep are well documented. However, there is limited information regarding changes in the autonomic cardiac profile during daytime naps. Heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) are reliable measures of autonomic cardiac activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in HRV and BRS during daytime naps in healthy men.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 25 healthy men. Polysomnographic recording with electrocardiogram monitoring was conducted for all volunteers during a 50– 80 min nap between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm. Five-minute segments during pre-nap wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stages (N1, N2, and N3), rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage, and post-nap wakefulness were used to measure changes in the variation in HRV parameters, including inter-beat interval (RR-interval), total spectral power (TP), high-frequency power (HF), low-frequency power (LF), and low frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF). BRS was also measured for 10 min during pre- and post-nap wakefulness using finger arterial pressure measurement (Finometer Pro ®).Results: HRV increased significantly during NREM sleep compared with that during pre-nap wakefulness (p < 0.05), as reflected by ... |