Title : Sleep and thermoregulation why does your anaesthetic affect temperature
Abstract:
Sleep and general anaesthesia are poorly understood physical states, this presentation explores the connections between sleep, anaesthesia, and thermoregulation. There are overlapping neural mechanisms and physiological functions.
What are the fundamental purposes of sleep? Energy conservation, cellular repair, memory consolidation, and hormonal regulation? What are the neural nuclei involved in NREM, REM, and wake states?
There are several theories of sleep, such as the energy allocation, adaptive inactivity, and brain plasticity theories and these can be related to thermoregulatory processes. There is evidence for shared circuitry between sleep and thermoregulation particularly if we examine nitric oxide and leptin pathways that influence both sleep regulation and temperature control.
Anaesthetics, such as dexmedetomidine produce EEG and thermoregulatory changes resembling natural sleep. The clinical implications of these interactions are important to understand particularly in the prevention and management of perioperative hypothermia – understanding sleep mechanisms can inform safer anaesthetic practices.
