Cardiorespiratory Interaction and Autonomic Sleep Quality Improve during Sleep in Beds Made from Pinus cembra (Stone Pine) Solid Wood

Vincent Grote, Matthias Frühwirth, Helmut K. Lackner, Nandu Goswami, Markus Köstenberger, Rudolf Likar and Maximilian Moser
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Vincent Grote: Physiology Division, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
Matthias Frühwirth: Human Research Institute of Health Technology and Prevention Research, 8160 Weiz, Austria
Helmut K. Lackner: Physiology Division, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
Nandu Goswami: Physiology Division, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
Markus Köstenberger: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Klinikum Klagenfurt am Woerthersee, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria
Rudolf Likar: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Klinikum Klagenfurt am Woerthersee, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria
Maximilian Moser: Physiology Division, Otto Loewi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunology and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-20

Abstract: Cardiorespiratory interactions (CRIs) reflect the mutual tuning of two important organismic oscillators—the heartbeat and respiration. These interactions can be used as a powerful tool to characterize the self-organizational and recreational quality of sleep. In this randomized, blinded and cross-over design study, we investigated CRIs in 15 subjects over a total of 253 nights who slept in beds made from different materials. One type of bed, used as control, was made of melamine faced chipboard with a wood-like appearance, while the other type was made of solid wood from stone pine ( Pinus cembra ). We observed a significant increase of vagal activity (measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia), a decrease in the heart rate (as an indicator of energy consumption during sleep) and an improvement in CRIs, especially during the first hours of sleep in the stone pine beds as compared to the chipboard beds. Subjective assessments of study participants’ well-being in the morning and sub-scalar assessments of their intrapsychic stability were significantly better after they slept in the stone pine bed than after they slept in the chipboard bed. Our observations suggest that CRIs are sensitive to detectable differences in indoor settings that are relevant to human health. Our results are in agreement with those of other studies that have reported that exposure to volatile phytochemical ingredients of stone pine (?-pinene, limonene, bornyl acetate) lead to an improvement in vagal activity and studies that show a reduction in stress parameters upon contact with solid wood surfaces.

Keywords: Pinus cembra; wood; sleep; autonomic nervous system; vagal activity; healing environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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