Cerebral blood flow in sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational human physiological studies
PubMed 39096646 · doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2024.101977
What was done
The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 published studies assessing global and regional cerebral blood flow across sleep stages in healthy humans who were not or only slightly (<24 h) sleep deprived.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or confidence intervals. It qualitatively reports that cerebral blood flow varies across sleep stages and depth, being generally lowest in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and highest in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Why it matters
It provides a consolidated synthesis of human sleep physiology, confirming that regional brain perfusion dynamically reflects stage-specific neural activity during sleep.
Limits
The abstract provides no quantitative metrics, effect sizes, or measures of between-study heterogeneity. The review is limited to healthy individuals with minimal sleep deprivation, precluding conclusions about clinical sleep disorders or chronic sleep loss.
Cited by
- supports Peak cerebral blood flow during sleep occurs during REM sleep.