{
  "abstract": "Communication between the brain and cardiovascular system is increasingly recognized as a fundamental determinant of health, yet the mechanisms coordinating neural and cardiac rhythms remain poorly understood. Sleep provides a unique physiological state for investigating neurovisceral integration because cortical slow oscillations (SOs), thalamocortical sleep spindles, and autonomic activity undergo profound reorganization during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. We analyzed overnight high-density electroencephalography and electrocardiography recordings from 30 healthy adults and quantified interactions among SOs, sleep spindles, cardiac R-peaks, heart rate variability (HRV), spectral slope, and Lempel-Ziv complexity. To assess integrated brain-heart coordination, we developed a Joint Phase-Amplitude Coupling (JPAC) metric that quantifies the corelation between SO phase-dependent modulation of spindle amplitude and cardiac timing. SO-spindle coupling showed the expected fronto-central distribution but was not significantly related to autonomic or cortical state markers. In contrast, SO-R-peak coupling and JPAC systematically tracked physiological state. Stronger JPAC was associated with higher high-frequency HRV, steeper spectral slopes, and lower neural complexity, indicating enhanced coupling during synchronized, parasympathetically dominated NREM sleep. These findings demonstrate coordinated organization of cortical, thalamocortical, and cardiac rhythms within a common oscillatory framework and identify NREM sleep as a state and potential treatment target of large-scale neurovisceral integration.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "HUG, UniGE"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "C. A. Mikutta"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Planta"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Koenig"
    },
    {
      "name": "K. Feher"
    },
    {
      "name": "P. Henckaerts"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Angelillo"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Hertenstein"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. L. Schneider"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. De Lucia"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. Riemann"
    },
    {
      "name": "B. Feige"
    },
    {
      "name": "V. V. Vyazovskiy"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "C. Nissen"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cxfczv9v973te.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.29.755384",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755384v1.full",
  "id": "cxfczv9v973te",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755384v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2705|Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220704672",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755384v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cxfczv9v973te.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:14Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.29.755384",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755384v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Coordinated Brain-Heart Dynamics During Human NREM Sleep",
  "title_text": "Coordinated Brain-Heart Dynamics During Human NREM Sleep",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:26:14Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cxfczv9v973te",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}