The influence of sleep on autonomic nervous system regulation in women across the lifespan

Abstract

Sleep and autonomic regulation are closely related processes which incur significant influence on health and wellbeing in women across the lifespan. Aging in women is associated with increases in cardiovascular risk through greater sympathetic predominance compared to premenopausal women, as well as reductions in sleep quality and quantity. Women remain an understudied population with regards to sleep, autonomic function, and cardiovascular risk. Understanding the interplay between sleep and autonomic function across the lifespan of women is crucial to improve subsequent lifelong health outcomes. The present review integrates knowledge that has accrued regarding experimental sleep deprivation, restriction, and chronic sleep disturbance and their respective impacts on autonomic regulation at various life stages in women. The review focuses on high-fidelity measures of sympathetic regulation (i.e., microneurography), as aging in women is associated with a disproportionate increase in sympathetic activity compared to men. Evidence summarized within this review delineates a significant impact of sleep processes on autonomic function in women across the lifespan. However, there remain substantial gaps in our knowledge of this interplay between sleep processes and autonomic regulation of cardiovascular control in women. There is a need for further research efforts to disentangle the complexity associated with sleep and autonomic regulation in women at all life stages. Efforts in this area will improve our understanding of women's health and factors such as sleep and sleep disturbance which precipitate lifelong health and chronic cardiovascular risk.