LAUSR

Sleep is a continuous and dynamic physiological process. Current research practice, however, limits our ability to observe electroencephalography (EEG) oscillation dynamics by breaking sleep into discrete stages. In this study, we propose a novel quantitative framework that represents population-level changes in sleep EEG spectral dynamics as a function of age, preserving the information-rich spectral dynamics of sleep data. Rather than relying on sleep stages, our approach uses slow-oscillation power (SO-power) as an objective, continuous-valued correlate of sleep depth. We analyzed the EEG signal (Fz-Cz, 256 Hz sampling rate) from a subset of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study participants (n = 2056, 53.6% female, age: mean 69.37 ± 9.12, range 54 - 94) who underwent polysomnography. For each subject, we computed the sleep EEG multitaper spectrogram and extracted the total baseline-normalized SO-power (0.1 - 1.5 Hz). We next computed mean EEG spectral power as a function of SO-power, which we then tracked across all subjects as a function of age in sliding windows. The population analysis shows apparent, continuous changes in time-frequency domain features of the EEG as a function of a sleep depth along with age, that would be otherwise lost in traditional analyses. Moreover, by analyzing the directionality of the SO-power, we show that there is no apparent difference in neural activity during deepening sleep and lightening sleep; thus EEG sleep state is likely non-directional. Our results show that state-based sleep dynamics of the EEG power spectrum can comprehensively be represented using SO-power as a surrogate of sleep depth. This representation identifies state-based activity independent of the temporal evolution of sleep architecture. As such, it is a powerful tool for analysis and phenotyping of EEG activity in large cohorts. The Biomedical Global Talent Nurturing Program through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI19C1065) to HK, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, R01 NS-096177) to MP.