Experiments conducted by researchers from the GIGA Cyclotron Research Center at the University of Liege and the University of Friborg in Switzerland showed that relaxing words heard during sleep can slow down the heart.
This discovery indicates that our body perceives and reacts to information even in a state of sleep. Experts emphasize that this connection between cognitive processes and physiological functions of the body is important for understanding how we process information during cognitive processes.
Until now, much of the research into sleep has focused on the brain, leaving little attention to physical activity. Christina Schmidt and Athena Demertzi noted the importance of including analysis of physiological indicators such as cardiac activity in sleep studies to gain a complete understanding of how our body and brain interact even during sleep, when normal communication is not possible.
“We nevertheless hypothesize that the brain and the body are connected even when we cannot fully communicate, including sleep. Both brain and body information need then to be taken into account for a full understanding of how we think and react to our environment”, explains Dr. Demertzi.
“We shared freely our methodology following the principles of Open Science hoping that the tools that helped to make this discovery will inspire other researchers to study the role played by the heart in other sleep functions”, Dr.Koroma advocates....<<<Read More>>>....