Stress and Sleep

In course of our daily activites we are subject to various levels of stress. The Italian CNR set up a laboratory at the Scuola Superiore di Sant'Anna and the University of Pisa called Extreme. At the Extreme center, scientists categorized the key types of stress conditions and used dense array electroencephalography (dEEG) and other body monitors such as electrocardiology (EKG) to measure the effect of stress on the body and the mind. Click here to go to the Italian video clip.

People such as athletes, experience short term type of stress. Therefore, the subjects chosen to participate in the study were athletes that compete in the Ironman race and space astronauts to represent short and long term stress categories. In the Ironman race, athletes must swim for 4km, bicycle for 180km and run for 42km consecutively. The astronauts chosen for the study were the ones that spent several months in a simulator in preperation for a voyage for the conquest of the planet Mars.

Results from the study prove that body organs, especially the heart, are able to adapt but not the mind. Scientists applied EEG sensors to the subjects during sleep and discovered a noticeable reduction in slow wave oscillation activity in the brain. Slow wave oscillation was discovered by an Italian scientist and its absence is associated with reduced benefit from sleep. We can recover from this condition when they are of temporary nature but not if it continues for a long period of time. One of the possible solutions is to stimulate the frontal lobe with deep brain electrodes.