Slow wave activity during sleep is lower in African-Americans than in whites

Jim Arcuri:

Slow wave activity (SWA), a stable trait dependent marker of the intensity of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, is lower in young healthy African-Americans compared to Caucasians who were matched for age, gender and body weight, according to a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Dr. Esra Tasali and colleagues at the University of Chicago collected overnight polysomnographic data from 12 African-Americans and 12 Caucasians, none of whom had any sleep complaints or disorders. The authors found that African-Americans had markedly lower SWA as compared to Caucasians.

"The current findings provide evidence for ethnic differences in the intensity of NREM sleep," said Tasali. "Lower levels of SWA in African-Americans could be related to their reported poor sleep quality and higher risk for insulin resistance."

The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

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