Nonlinear dynamical systems effects of homeopathic remedies on multiscale entropy and correlation dimension of slow wave sleep EEG in young adults with histories of coffee-induced insomnia

Iris R. Bell; Amy Howerter; Nicholas Jackson; Mikel Aickin; Richard R. Bootzin; Audrey J. Brooks

doi:10.1016/j.homp.2012.05.007

Homeopathy, Table of Contents

Homeopathy 2012; 101(03): 182-192
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2012.05.007

Original Paper

Nonlinear dynamical systems effects of homeopathic remedies on multiscale entropy and correlation dimension of slow wave sleep EEG in young adults with histories of coffee-induced insomnia

Iris R. Bell

¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

²Department of Psychiatry, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

³Department of Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

⁴Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

,

Amy Howerter

¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

,

Nicholas Jackson

¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

⁴Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

,

Mikel Aickin

¹Department of Family and Community Medicine, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

⁴Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

,

Richard R. Bootzin

²Department of Psychiatry, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ, USA

³Department of Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

,

Audrey J. Brooks

³Department of Psychology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

› Author Affiliations
Subject Editor:

Abstract

Background: Investigators of homeopathy have proposed that nonlinear dynamical systems (NDS) and complex systems science offer conceptual and analytic tools for evaluating homeopathic remedy effects. Previous animal studies demonstrate that homeopathic medicines alter delta electroencephalographic (EEG) slow wave sleep. The present study extended findings of remedy-related sleep stage alterations in human subjects by testing the feasibility of using two different NDS analytic approaches to assess remedy effects on human slow wave sleep EEG.

Methods: Subjects (N=54) were young adult male and female college students with a history of coffee-related insomnia who participated in a larger 4-week study of the polysomnographic effects of homeopathic medicines on home-based all-night sleep recordings. Subjects took one bedtime dose of a homeopathic remedy (Coffea cruda or Nux vomica 30c). We computed multiscale entropy (MSE) and the correlation dimension (Mekler-D2) for stages 3 and 4 slow wave sleep EEG sampled in artifact-free 2-min segments during the first two rapid-eye-movement (REM) cycles for remedy and post-remedy nights, controlling for placebo and post-placebo night effects.

Results: MSE results indicate significant, remedy-specific directional effects, especially later in the night (REM cycle 2) (CC: remedy night increases and post-remedy night decreases in MSE at multiple sites for both stages 3 and 4 in both REM cycles; NV: remedy night decreases and post-remedy night increases, mainly in stage 3 REM cycle 2 MSE). D2 analyses yielded more sporadic and inconsistent findings.

Conclusions: Homeopathic medicines Coffea cruda and Nux vomica in 30c potencies alter short-term nonlinear dynamic parameters of slow wave sleep EEG in healthy young adults. MSE may provide a more sensitive NDS analytic method than D2 for evaluating homeopathic remedy effects on human sleep EEG patterns.

Keywords

Homeopathy - Polysomnography - Electroencephalography - Coffea cruda - Nux vomica - Nonlinear dynamics - Multiscale entropy - Correlation dimension - Slow wave sleep - Complex systems - Time-dependent sensitization

Full Text

References

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