This study was undertaken to find out the relationship between subjective evaluation on sleep and nocturnal polygraphic findings in women during pregnancy and postpartum periods, and also to detect the changes of sleep patterns during those periods.
Seven women in 11 to 37 weeks of pregnancy and four in 1 to 7 weeks of post-partum period were studied. Four non-pregnant healthy women selected as a control group. Nocturnal sleep recordings included EEG, EOG, EMG, and ECG. The data were recorded during three consecutive nights,and sleep records were scored according to the criteria outlined by Rechtshaffen & Kales. The data on subjective evaluation were collected by using a questionnaire.
It was found that two types of subjective evaluation of sleep among the subjects; one was a mono-phasic pattern, and the other was a multi-phasic pattern. In the women with a mono-phasic type, the polygraphic findings showed normal sleep pattern.
The sleep efficiciency rate of the pregnant group, especially in the third trimester, was lower and the sleep was poor than that of the non-pregnant group, The sleep efficiency rate in the early postpartum period was further lower than that in the third trimester of pregnancy, though%S4 increased.
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