Abstract
Human sleep is sensitive to the individual's environment. The present review examines
current knowledge of human sleep patterns under different environments: heat exposure,
cold exposure, altitude, high pressure and microgravity in space. Heat exposure has
two effects. In people living in temperate conditions, moderate heat loads (hot bath,
sauna) prior to sleep provoke a delayed reaction across time (diachronic reaction)
whereby slow-wave sleep (SWS) augments in the following night (neurogenic adaptive
pathway). Melanoids and Caucasians living in the Sahel dry tropical climate experience
diachronic increases in SWS throughout seasonal acclimatization. Such increases are
greater during the hot season, being further enhanced after daytime exercise. On the
contrary, when subjects are acutely exposed to heat, diachronic decreases in total
sleep time and SWS occur, being often accompanied by synchronic (concomitant) diminution
in REM sleep. Stress hormones increase. Nocturnal cold exposure provokes a synchronic
decrease in REM sleep along with an activation of stress hormones (synchronic somatic
reaction). SWS remains undisturbed as it still occurs at the beginning of the night
before nocturnal body cooling. Altitude and high pressure are deleterious to sleep,
especially in non-acclimatized individuals. In their controlled environment, astronauts
can sleep well in microgravity. Exercise-induced sleep changes help to understand
environmental effects on sleep: well-tolerated environmental strains may improve sleep
through a neurogenic adaptive pathway; when this “central” adaptive pathway is overloaded
or bypassed, diachronic and synchronic sleep disruptions occur.
Keywords
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