Alpha sleep and information processing, arousal and perception of sleep in fibromyalgia.

Abstract

This dissertation project was designed to examine the relationship between alpha sleep and information processing during sleep in persons with fibromyalgia. The study tested the following hypotheses: (1) persons with alpha sleep are more sensitive to external stimuli during sleep than non-alpha sleepers (2) alpha sleepers are more likely to identify polysomnographically defined sleep as wakefulness than non-alpha sleepers and (3) alpha sleepers are more likely to complain of shallow and non-restorative sleep than non-alpha sleepers. To assess the extent to which subjects manifested alpha sleep, subjects were allowed to sleep undisturbed for the first 60 minutes of the study. Quantitative analyses of alpha activity during this period was performed via visual assessment, signal detection and power spectral technologies. After this period elapsed, two experimental tasks were conducted to test for information processing and memory during sleep. The first task was a test of both implicit and explicit memory for auditory stimuli presented during sleep. The second task was a test of short term memory and of subjective perception of sleep during polysomnographically defined stages of sleep. It was found that alpha activity occurring during sleep in fibromyalgic patients is not associated with increased long term memory for auditory events or the myalgia symptoms of fibromyalgia, but is associated with enhanced short term memory for stimuli presented during stage 2 sleep, the tendency to identify stage 2 sleep as wakefulness, the increased tendency to arouse in relation to auditory stimuli and the perception of shallow sleep.