Repeated afternoon sleep recordings indicate first-night-effect-like adaptation process in family dogs.

Repeated afternoon sleep recordings indicate first-night-effect-like adaptation process in family dogs. J Sleep Res. 2020 Feb 17;:e12998 Authors: Reicher V, Kis A, Simor P, Bódizs R, Gombos F, Gácsi M Abstract The importance of dogs (Canis familiaris) in sleep research is primarily based on their comparability with humans. In spite of numerous differences, dogs' comparable sleep pattern, as well as several phenotypic similarities on both the behavioural and neural levels, make this species a most feasible model in many respects. Our aim was to investigate whether the so-called first-night effect, which in humans manifests as a marked macrostructure difference between the first and second sleep occasions, can be observed in family dogs. We used a non-invasive polysomnographic method to monitor and compare the characteristics of dogs' (N = 24) 3-hr-long afternoon naps on three occasions at the same location. We analysed how sleep macrostructure variables differed between the first, second and third occasions, considering also the effects of potential confounding variables such as the dogs' age and sleeping habits. Our findings indicate that first-night effect is present in dogs' sleep architecture, although its specifics somewhat deviate from the pattern observed in humans. Sleep macrostructure differences were mostly found between occasions 1 and 3; dogs slept more, had less wake after the first drowsiness episode, and reached dro...
Source: Journal of Sleep Research - Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Tags: J Sleep Res Source Type: research