Modeling the long term effects of thermoregulation on human sleep

Selenne Bañuelos; Janet Best; Gemma Huguet; Alicia Prieto-Langarica; Pamela B Pyzza; Shelby Wilson

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110208

Modeling the long term effects of thermoregulation on human sleep

J Theor Biol. 2020 May 21:493:110208. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110208. Epub 2020 Feb 19.

Authors

Selenne Bañuelos¹, Janet Best², Gemma Huguet³, Alicia Prieto-Langarica⁴, Pamela B Pyzza⁵, Shelby Wilson⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mathematics, California State University-Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA, United States. Electronic address: selenne.banuelos@csuci.edu.
² Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States. Electronic address: jbest@math.ohio-state.edu.
³ Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: gemma.huguet@upc.edu.
⁴ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, United States. Electronic address: aprietolangarica@ysu.edu.
⁵ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH, United States. Electronic address: pbpyzza@owu.edu.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States. Electronic address: shelbynwilson@umd.edu.

PMID: 32087179
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110208

Abstract

The connection between human sleep and energy exertion has long been regarded as part of the reasoning for the need to sleep. A recent theory proposes that during REM sleep, energy utilized for thermoregulation is diverted to other relevant biological processes. We present a mathematical model of human sleep/wake regulation with thermoregulatory functions to gain quantitative insight into the effects of ambient temperature on sleep quality. Our model extends previous models by incorporating equations for the metabolic processes that control thermoregulation during sleep. We present numerical simulations that provide a quantitative answer for how humans adjust by changing the normal sleep stage progression when it is challenged with ambient temperatures away from thermoneutral. We explore the dynamics for a single night and several nights. Our results indicate that including the effects of temperature is a vital component of modeling sleep.

Keywords: Body temperature; REM cycle; REM latency.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Body Temperature Regulation*
Humans
Models, Theoretical
Sleep*
Sleep, REM
Temperature