Magnetic Slow-Wave Sleep
In a recent article, the work of Dr. Giulio Tononi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, was discussed, and I found it quite fascinating. Tononi claims to have discovered "how to stimulate brain waves that characterize the deepest stage of sleep."
While we still are not 100% sure what the purpose of slow wave sleep (Stages 3 and 4) is, we do have a few hints: restoration and mood elevation.
Slow wave sleep occupies about 25% of the sleep of a normal healthy volunteer (aged 20-40). However, we know that as we age (40+), the power or amplitude of these waves change. They change so much that it is thought that the elderly have less than 25% slow wave sleep, and in many cases none at all. There is tremendous controversy in this area because no one knows if a smaller slow wave is any different than a larger one.
In their paper published in the scientific journal PNAS, Tononi and colleagues described the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to initiate slow waves in sleeping volunteers. The researchers recorded brain electrical activity with an electroencephalograph (EEG).
According to the researchers a "TMS instrument sends a harmless magnetic signal through the scalp and skull and into the brain, where it activates electrical impulses. In response to each burst of magnetism, the subjects' brains immediately produced slow waves typical of deep sleep" (Tononi says).
While we still are not 100% sure what the purpose of slow wave sleep (Stages 3 and 4) is, we do have a few hints: restoration and mood elevation.
Slow wave sleep occupies about 25% of the sleep of a normal healthy volunteer (aged 20-40). However, we know that as we age (40+), the power or amplitude of these waves change. They change so much that it is thought that the elderly have less than 25% slow wave sleep, and in many cases none at all. There is tremendous controversy in this area because no one knows if a smaller slow wave is any different than a larger one.
In their paper published in the scientific journal PNAS, Tononi and colleagues described the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to initiate slow waves in sleeping volunteers. The researchers recorded brain electrical activity with an electroencephalograph (EEG).
According to the researchers a "TMS instrument sends a harmless magnetic signal through the scalp and skull and into the brain, where it activates electrical impulses. In response to each burst of magnetism, the subjects' brains immediately produced slow waves typical of deep sleep" (Tononi says).
In theory, creating slow waves on demand could someday lead to treatments for insomnia, where a magnetically stimulated "power nap" might give the benefit of eight hours sleep in just a few hours.
Before that happens, however, Tononi must go further and prove that artificial slow waves have restorative benefits to the brain. Such an experiment would ask whether sleep with TMS leads to greater brain restoration than an equal amount of sleep without TMS.
Again, I found this quite fascinating, since we are getting closer to basically getting "Sleep on Demand," much like cable TV.
The question however still remains: is it good for you?
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