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Ambient temperature is associated with changes in infants' arousability from sleep
P Franco1, S Scaillet, F Valente
1Pediatric Sleep Unit, Erasmus Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. Patricia.Franco@skynet.be
Insights
Higher ambient temperatures may make it harder for infants to wake up from REM sleep later in the night. This study investigated infant arousal thresholds at different temperatures.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Environmental Influences on Infant Physiology
Background:
- Infant sleep is crucial for development and safety.
- Understanding factors affecting infant arousal is important for SIDS prevention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of ambient temperature on infant arousal thresholds during sleep.
- To determine if temperature influences the ability of infants to be roused by auditory stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Healthy infants (median age 11 weeks) were polygraphically recorded overnight.
- Two groups were studied at 24°C and 28°C ambient temperatures.
- Arousal thresholds were measured using auditory stimuli of increasing intensity during REM and NREM sleep.
Main Results:
- Arousal thresholds decreased throughout the night for infants at 24°C, but not at 28°C.
- Auditory arousal thresholds were significantly higher at 28°C compared to 24°C between 03:00 and 06:00 hours.
- These temperature-related differences in arousal thresholds were observed specifically during REM sleep.
Conclusions:
- Elevated ambient temperatures may increase the difficulty for infants to arouse from REM sleep during the later part of the night.
- This finding suggests a potential risk factor related to temperature for infants during sleep.
Study Objective:
To evaluate the influence of ambient temperature on infants' arousability from sleep.
Design:
Two groups of healthy infants with a median age of 11 weeks were recorded polygraphically during one night: 31 infants were studied at 24 degreesC and 31 infants at 28 degreesC. To determine their arousal thresholds, the infants were exposed to white noises of increasing intensities during REM and NREM sleep. Arousal thresholds were defined by the auditory stimuli needed to induce arousals.
Setting:
N/A.
Patients Or Participants:
N/A.
Interventions:
N/A.
Measurements And Results:
The arousal thresholds decreased across the night in the infants sleeping at 24 degreesC (p=.017). The finding was not found for the infants sleeping at 28 degreesC. When analyzing the arousal responses according to time of the night, it was found that the auditory thresholds were significantly higher at 28 degreesC than at 24 degreesC between 03:00 hr and 06:00 hr (p=.003). These findings were only seen in REM sleep.
Conclusion:
High ambient temperature could add to the difficulty to arouse from REM sleep in the late hours of the night.