e174 Abstracts / Sleep Medicine 40 (2017) e3ee185

item depression scale of Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Beck Human Development (T32 HD007489, P30 HD003352) and seed funding
Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II), and the Hamilton Rating from the Center for Innovation and Creativity at the University of Colorado
Scale for Depression (HDRS). Insomnia severity is assessed by the Athene Boulder.
Insomnia Scale (AIS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).
Conclusions: Sleep may be a small window for seeing into brain resting Neural Plasticity
state, and betray unmodified neural dysfunction. Our results could develop MINDFULNESS (VIPASSANA) MEDITATION AND SLEEP ORGANIZATION:
the MDD diagnosis method and promote greater understanding of MDD A MACRO AND MICRO SLEEP ARCHITECTURE ASSESSMENT
pathophysiology.
Acknowledgements: This study is funded by grants from the Japan Agency B.M. Kutty. Neurophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health and
for Medical Research and Development (AMED), and is registered to the Neurosciences, Bangalore, India
UMIN clinical trials registry (UMIN000026835).
Introduction: Meditative practices condition brain functions in different
Basic Research ways and at different levels that helps in attaining a perfect mind body
EEG SIGNATURES OF BRAIN MATURATION IN CHILDREN: AGE-RELATED harmony. Buddhist meditative practices such as Vipassana meditation
AND ACROSS-NIGHT DYNAMICS IN SPATIAL PROPAGATION OF SLOW utilizes the techniques of mindfulness to enhance self-awareness. As sleep
OSCILLATIONS is important to establish health and wellbeing, we have evaluated the
changes in sleep architecture brought by Vipassana meditation practice.
S. Schoch 1, B. Riedner 2, D. Dean 2, J. O'Muircheartaigh 3, S. Deoni 4, R. Materials and methods: Whole night polysomnography studies were
Huber 5, O. Jenni 5, M. LeBourgeois 6, S. Kurth 7. 1 University Hospital Zurich, carried out among two groups of Vipassana meditation practitioners (se-
Zurich, Switzerland; 2 University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States; nior meditators, >5 years of daily meditation practice n¼ 20, 30-60 years of
3
King's College London, London, United Kingdom; 4 Brown University, age and in novice meditator group, < two years of meditation practice,
Providence, United States; 5 University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, n¼19, 30-60 years of age), and in non-meditating control subjects (n¼19,
Switzerland; 6 University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States; 30-60 years of age). The sleep architecture differences were compared
7
University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland among those who had a sleep efficiency index more than 85%. Only male
subjects were used for the study.
Introduction: Slow oscillations in the sleep EEG propagate across the scalp Results: Senior Vipassana meditators showed distinct changes in sleep
and are a marker of neuronal connectivity. In adults, this marker un- architecture from that of novice as well as control subjects. It appears that
dergoes fluctuations during sleep, as shown by an across-night decrease of long term practice of Vipassana meditation improves sleep organization as
cortical involvement. For translating slow oscillation propagation patterns they showed enhanced slow wave sleep and REM sleep states along with
toward clinical pediatric use two crucial knowledge gaps remain: concomitant decrease in micro arousals and wake. The senior meditators
1) Characterization of maturational changes throughout periods of rapid showed no decline in slow wave sleep even at the age of 60 years whereas
development and the slow wave sleep was significantly reduced among control subjects.
2) Examination of across-night fluctuations in children. Similarly the senior meditators showed significant changes in REM sleep
Materials and methods: 29 healthy children (2
16 y) underwent high- with significantly enhanced REM sleep duration, REM density as well as
density EEG recordings (128 channels) during whole-night sleep sched- enhanced Rapid eye movement activity from that of novice and control
uled to habitual bedtimes. Slow oscillatory propagation characteristics (i.e., groups. The spindle -delta dynamics across sleep cycles ( neuroloop gain
distance, traveling speed, cortical involvement) were examined in five analysis ) showed a significant reduction of integrated sigma activity as
quintiles to assess across-night trajectories. In a subset of subjects (n¼23, well as delta activity across sleep cycles among senior meditators . The
2
13 y) mcDESPOT-MRI was obtained to measure white matter myelin scalp topography of alpha (8-12 Hz), beta (13-30 Hz) power across sleep
microstructure (myelin water fraction, MWF). Age was first included lin- cycles during the first three sleep cycles did not show any between group
early and subsequently as a grouping variable for preschool-age (2.0
4.6 y, differences.
n¼11), school-age (5.1
8.9 y, n¼9) or young adolescence (9.0
16.4 y, Conclusion: On the whole the study summaries that Vipassana medita-
n¼9). Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess across-night fluc- tion, with its greater potential to regulates many physiological and
tuations, the effect of age and their interaction. behavioral states help to foster a proper sleep organization. We attribute
Results: With increasing age, slow oscillations propagated across longer these changes to the enhanced plasticity events and endocrine regulations
distances (overall growth 0.2 cm/ year; R(21)¼0.50, p< 0.05; age group ef- achieved through proficient meditation practice.
fect p< 0.05), while traveling speed and cortical involvement showed less Acknowledgements: To the funding agencies, CCRYN (Central council for
pronounced maturation (p¼n.s. for correlation; age group effects p¼0.05). yoga and naturopathy, New Delhi and DST- SATYAM (Department of Sci-
Cortical involvement (R(20)¼0.44) and slow oscillation speed (R(20)¼
0.47, ence & Technology e under Science & Technology for Yoga and Medita-
both p< 0.05, corrected for age) were associated with intra-hemispheric tion), New Delhi. To all participants of the study as well as the to VRI (The
MWF in the superior longitudinal fascicle, the largest anterior-posterior, Vipassana Research Institute), Global Pagoda, Mumbai
white matter tract. Furthermore, slow oscillation distance was moderately
associated with whole-brain (R(21)¼0.46, p< 0.05) and inter-hemispheric Basic Research
callosal MWF (R(21)¼0.54, p< 0.01, uncorrected). Across a night of sleep SCHIZOTYPAL TRAITS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SLEEP SPINDLES AND
slow oscillation distance decreased by 11.9% in preschool-age children REM IN ADOLESCENCE
(Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p< 0.05), but not in school-age children or ad-
olescents. Cortical involvement decreased across sleep, regardless of age. No L. Kuula, I. Merikanto, T. Makkonen, R. Halonen, M. Lahti, J. Lahti, K.
across-night changes were observed in slow oscillation speed. Heinonen, K. Ra €ikko€ nen, A.-K. Pesonen. Department of Psychology and
Conclusions: We demonstrate maturational changes in slow oscillation Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
propagation distance, as well as regional associations with white matter
microstructure. Furthermore, signatures of brain connectivity undergo Introduction: Research suggests an association between schizophrenia
across-night fluctuations specific to maturational periods. The fluctuations and a decrease in sleep spindle activity. Changes in sleep architecture are
in slow oscillation distance specific to preschool-age might be a marker for typically also present in schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. It is un-
a period of heightened plasticity in underlying neuronal networks. Find- known how the continuum of psychotic symptoms relates to different
ings make an important contribution to quantifying natural fluctuations of features in sleep EEG. We set out to examine how sleep architecture and
the brain connectome during human development. spindle activity are associated with schizotypal traits in a healthy adoles-
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Swiss National cent population.
Science Foundation (PBZHP3-138801, PBZHP3-147180; PP00A-114923), Materials and methods: Participants (n¼176, 61% girls) came from a
the National Institutes of Health (R01-MH086566), Jacob's Foundation, the community-based cohort. Schizotypal traits were evaluated using The
Clinical Research Priority Program Sleep and Health of the University of Schizotypal Personality Scale (STA) in early adolescence (mean age 12.3
Zurich, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and years, SD¼0.5) and the participants underwent ambulatory overnight