Criticality of neuronal avalanches in human sleep and their relationship with sleep macro- and micro-architecture

Summary: Sleep plays a key role in preserving brain function, keeping brain networks in a state that ensures optimal computation. Empirical evidence indicates that this state is consistent with criticality, where scale-free neuronal avalanches emerge. However, the connection between sleep architecture and brain tuning to criticality remains poorly understood. Here, we characterize the critical behavior of avalanches and study their relationship with sleep macro- and micro-architectures, in particular, the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP). We show that avalanches exhibit robust scaling behaviors, with exponents obeying scaling relations consistent with the mean-field directed percolation universality class. We demonstrate that avalanche dynamics is modulated by the NREM-REM cycles and that, within NREM sleep, avalanche occurrence correlates with CAP activation phases—indicating a potential link between CAP and brain tuning to criticality. The results open new perspectives on the collective dynamics underlying CAP function, and on the relationship between sleep architecture, avalanches, and self-organization to criticality.