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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice
Published on: August 2, 2017
Sleep state switching
Clifford B Saper1, Patrick M Fuller, Nigel P Pedersen
1Department of Neurology, Program in Neuroscience, and Division of Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. csaper@bidmc.harvard.edu
Abstract:
We take for granted the ability to fall asleep or to snap out of sleep into wakefulness, but these changes in behavioral state require specific switching mechanisms in the brain that allow well-defined state transitions. In this review, we examine the basic circuitry underlying the regulation of sleep and wakefulness and discuss a theoretical framework wherein the interactions between reciprocal neuronal circuits enable relatively rapid and complete state transitions. We also review how homeostatic, circadian, and allostatic drives help regulate sleep state switching and discuss how breakdown of the switching mechanism may contribute to sleep disorders such as narcolepsy.
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