Cold Exposure and Sleep in the Rat: Effects on Sleep Architecture and the Electroencephalogram

These findings show that sleep-stage duration and electroencephalogram power are simultaneously affected by cold exposure. The effects on rapid eye movement sleep appear mainly as changes in the duration, whereas those on non-rapid eye movement sleep are shown by changes in delta power. These effects are temperature dependent, and the decrease of both parameters during the exposure is reciprocated by an increase in the subsequent recovery.