Luís A. Nunes Amaral

co-Director, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems
Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Professor of Physics & Astronomy (by courtesy)
Professor of Medicine (by courtesy)

Chemical & Biological Engineering
2145 Sheridan Road (Room E136)
EvanstonIL 60208US
Phone: (847) 491-7850

Abstract

We compare scaling properties of the cardiac dynamics during sleep and wake periods for healthy individuals, cosmonauts during orbital flight, and subjects with severe heart disease. For all three groups, we find a greater degree of anticorrelation in the heartbeat fluctuations during sleep compared to wake periods. The sleep-wake difference in the scaling exponents for the three groups is comparable to the difference between healthy and diseased individuals. The observed scaling differences are not accounted for simply by different levels of activity, but appear related to intrinsic changes in the neuroautonomic control of the heartbeat.