Evaluation of the first-night effect of polysomnographic recording on cardiac autonomic activity in children with autism spectrum disorder

Introduction. The first night effect (FNE) is the tendency to have lower than usual sleep quality and quantity during the first polysomnography (PSG) recording, which alters sleep architecture. The FNE occurs in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with studies suggesting that cardiac autonomic dysregulation is altered in patients with this illness. Objective. To determine whether the FNE influences the autonomic activity of ASD and typically developing (TD) children. Method. Two PSGs were recorded in 13 ASD and 13 TD children. The FNE was evaluated with eight sleep variables and autonomic activity through respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and low frequency (LF). Statistical analyses included intra- and inter-subject comparisons. Results. The FNE was present in both groups and affected more sleep variables in the ASD group. There were no significant differences between both recordings in RSA and LF. Inter-subject comparison showed significant differences in certain sleep variables, mainly during the first night. A comparison of RSA and LF between N2 and N3 stages and REM sleep showed that the TD group had significant differences in both measures whereas the ASD group only did so in the LF the first night. Discussion and conclusion. The influence of the FNE on the quantitative characteristics of sleep is corroborated in ASD and TD children, but not in RSA or LF. When the activity of the RSA and LF between sleep stages was considered, a different pattern was observed between the two PSG recordings.

Lactobacillus fermentum PS150 promotes non-rapid eye movement sleep in the first night effect of mice

The first night effect (FNE) is a type of sleep disturbance caused by an unfamiliar environment, which leads to difficulty falling asleep and reduced sleep duration. Previously, we reported that Lactobacillus fermentum PS150 (PS150) improves sleep conditions in a pentobarbital-induced sleep mouse model. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of PS150 on the FNE in mice. Briefly, mice were implanted with electrodes and orally administered PS150 for four weeks, and then the FNE was induced by cage changing. Analysis of polysomnographic signals revealed that intervention with PS150 restored non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep length under the FNE. Compared to diphenhydramine, a commonly used sleep aid, PS150 had no unwanted side effects, such as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation and fragmented sleep. Moreover, temporal analysis revealed that PS150 efficiently reduced both sleep latency and time spent restoring normal levels of REM sleep. Taken together, these results suggest that PS150 efficiently ameliorates sleep disturbance caused by the FNE. Additionally, V3–V4 16S rRNA sequencing revealed significant increases in Erysipelotrichia, Actinobacteria, and Coriobacteriia in fecal specimens of the PS150-treated group, indicating that PS150 induces gut microbiota remodeling.

The First-Night Effect in Elite Sports: An Initial Glance on Polysomnography in Home-Based Settings

Self-applied portable polysomnography is considered a promising tool to assess sleep architecture in field studies. However, no findings have been published regarding the appearance of a first-night effect within a sport-specific setting. Its absence, however, would allow for a single night sleep monitoring and hence minimize the burden on athletes while still obtaining the most important variables. For this reason, the aim of the study was to assess whether the effect appears in home-based sleep monitoring of elite athletes.The study sample included eight male and 12 female German elite athletes from five different sports. Participants slept with a portable polysomnography for two nights, which they self-applied at night before going to bed. Time in bed and wake-up time in the morning were freely chosen by each individual athlete without any restrictions regarding time or sleeping environment. Participants were asked to keep the same location and time frame during the two days of monitoring and stick to their usual sleeping schedules. Sleep stages were manually scored using 30-s epochs. Sleep parameters and stages were later compared with the help of linear mixed models to investigate the factor time.Significant differences between the two nights were found for percentage of Non-REM sleep [T(19) = −2,10, p < 0.05, d = −0.47, 95%-CI (−7.23, −0.01)] with small effect size, Total Wake Time [T(19) = 2.30, p = 0.03, d = 0.51, 95%-CI (1.66, 35.17)], Sleep Efficiency [T(19) = −2.48, p = 0.02, d = −0.55, 95%-CI (−7.43, −0.63)], and Wake percentage [T(19) = 2.47, p = 0.02, d = 0.55, 95%-CI (0.61, 7.43)] with moderate effect sizes, and N3 Sleep Onset Latency [T(19) = 3.37, p < 0.01, d = 0.75, 95%-CI (7.15, 30.54)] with large effect size. Confidence Intervals for all other indices range from negative to positive values and hence specify, that parameters were not systematically negatively affected in the first night.Findings suggest that some individuals are more affected by the first-night effect than others. Yet, in order to keep the measurement uncertainties to a minimum, a more conservative approach with at least two monitoring nights should be used whenever possible, if no other supporting information on the athletes says otherwise.