Publication Date

1-1-2023

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Network Neuroscience

Volume

7

Issue

1

DOI

10.1162/netn_a_00272

First Page

102

Last Page

121

Abstract

Sleep inertia is the brief period of impaired alertness and performance experienced immediately after waking. Little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. A better understanding of the neural processes during sleep inertia may offer insight into the awakening process. We observed brain activity every 15 min for 1 hr following abrupt awakening from slow wave sleep during the biological night. Using 32-channel electroencephalography, a network science approach, and a within-subject design, we evaluated power, clustering coefficient, and path length across frequency bands under both a control and a polychromatic short-wavelength-enriched light intervention condition. We found that under control conditions, the awakening brain is typified by an immediate reduction in global theta, alpha, and beta power. Simultaneously, we observed a decrease in the clustering coefficient and an increase in path length within the delta band. Exposure to light immediately after awakening ameliorated changes in clustering. Our results suggest that long-range network communication within the brain is crucial to the awakening process and that the brain may prioritize these long-range connections during this transitional state. Our study highlights a novel neurophysiological signature of the awakening brain and provides a potential mechanism by which light improves performance after waking.

Funding Number

MIPR N3239820WXHN007

Funding Sponsor

Army Research Laboratory

Keywords

Graph theoretical framework, Network communication, Short-wavelength-enriched light, Sleep inertia

Comments

This is the Version of Record and can also be read online here.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Research Foundation

Download

Share

COinS