Sleep is necessary for life; critically important to the regulation of body and brain function. Sleep problems are common in the U.S. adult population (>50 million), and have a negative impact on quality of life, productivity, and healthcare. A major obstacle to understanding how the brain is involved in human sleep disorders has been the lack of recordings of brain function, from inside the brain, during the known sleep states; non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). It is very common for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) to also have sleep disorders, such as insomnia, restless-leg-syndrome and REM-behavior disorder. One treatment for PD patients is deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). Despite evidence showing that STN-DBS improves several aspects of sleep behavior in PD subjects, few studies have examined the relationship between brain activity and sleep regulation in human subjects. In this proposal, the investigators will examine sleep in humans by recording brain activity from STN of PD patients who have undergone DBS surgery. The investigators will also test the hypothesis that STN contributes to both the regulation and disruption of normal sleep behavior.
Sleep problems are common in the United States (US) adult population (>50 million), and have a negative impact on quality of life, productivity, and healthcare. A major obstacle to understanding how the brain is involved in human sleep disorders has been the lack of recordings of human brain function, from inside the brain, during the known sleep states.