Sleep, Stress and Learning: an Experimental Pilot Study

Stress Clinical Trial

— Sleepstress  

Official title:

Sleep, Stress and Learning: an Experimental Pilot Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Enrolling by invitation

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03657901
• Other study ID #: Sleepstress
• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 1, 2018
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2018

Study information

• Verified date: September 2018
• Source: Helsinki University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

To investigate the efficiency and effect of a programmed slow-breathing exercise in the evening to the heart rate variability, sleep quality and memory performance over night.

Description:

Background Stress and increased alertness in the evening are major reasons for sleep onset problems, poor sleep and insomnia symptoms. For instance, increased amount of REM, and decreased amount of slow wave sleep may result. Also, the function of sleep in memory consolidation may suffer. They also affect the sleep structure and continuity during the night. They are highly prevalent phenomena among the entire population, including healthy adults and children. However, at the physiological level, the concept of evening alertness is still understudied and often neglected.

Recent advances show that breathing exercise is an efficient tool to reduce stress. However, its use specifically prior to sleep onset and with measurement sleep stages and their microstructures with sleep EEG has been little been studied before. The overall objective of this study is to explore interrelations of stress, learning and sleep quality.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Enrollment: 20
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2018
• Est. primary completion date: October 30, 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 20 Years to 45 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 20-45

Exclusion Criteria:

• chronic disease requiring daily medication, acute sickness (e.g. a flu), jet lag from a recent travel, current diagnosed sleep disorder (such as snoring or insomnia) and any use of medication affecting autonomic nervous system function or sleep.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Sleep
• Stress

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Music listening
Guided music listening for 30 minutes before sleep onset
• Slow breathing
Guided slow breathing for 30 minutes before sleep onset

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Finland	University of Helsinki	Helsinki

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Helsinki University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Finland, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Sleep structure	Percent distribution of different sleep stages	Change from night 1 to night 2
Secondary	Sleep spindle duration	Duration of sleep spindles in seconds	Change from night 1 to night 2
Secondary	Sleep spindle power	Amplitude of sleep spindles in microvolts	Change from night 1 to night 2

External Links

•   Sleep lab home page