Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice
Published on: August 2, 2017
Markov analysis of sleep dynamics
J W Kim1, J-S Lee, P A Robinson
1School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Abstract:
A new approach, based on a Markov transition matrix, is proposed to explain frequent sleep and wake transitions during sleep. The matrix is determined by analyzing hypnograms of 113 obstructive sleep apnea patients. Our approach shows that the statistics of sleep can be constructed via a single Markov process and that durations of all states have modified exponential distributions, in contrast to recent reports of a scale-free form for the wake stage and an exponential form for the sleep stage. Hypnograms of the same subjects, but treated with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, are analyzed and compared quantitatively with the pretreatment ones, suggesting potential clinical applications.
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