Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;30(6):e13369.
doi: 10.1111/jsr.13369. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Grumpy face during adult sleep: A clue to negative emotion during sleep?

Jean-Baptiste Maranci  1   2   3 , Alexia Aussel  1 , Marie Vidailhet  2   3 , Isabelle Arnulf  1   2   3
Affiliations
Free article

Grumpy face during adult sleep: A clue to negative emotion during sleep?

Jean-Baptiste Maranci et al. J Sleep Res. 2021 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Negative facial expressions and frowns have been studied (albeit more rarely than smiles) in fetus' and neonate' sleep, but they have not been investigated during adult sleep. Video polysomnography (including corrugator muscle electromyography and face-focussed video) was used to study negative facial expressions in sleeping adults, including healthy subjects and patients with/out parasomnia. Frowns were observed during sleep in 89/91 (97.8%) adults during normal (29 healthy subjects) and abnormal sleep (29 patients without parasomnia, 15 patients with disorders of arousal and 18 patients with rapid eye movement [REM] sleep behaviour disorder [RBD]). In healthy subjects, the following events occurred in decreasing frequency: isometric corrugator activations, brief frowns, and then prolonged frowns and raised eyebrows (both similarly rare). Frowns predominated in REM sleep, and had a lower frequency in non-REM sleep. In healthy subjects, frowns were elementary and not associated with other face movements to the point of composing negative expressions. In contrast, frowns were occasionally associated with overt negative facial expressions in REM sleep in patients with RBD and a young patient with night terrors. They included mostly painful expressions and rarely sadness and anger in connection with apparently negative behaviours (shouts, painful moaning, and speeches). Frowns persist during normal sleep (mostly in REM sleep) in adults, but overt negative facial expressions are restricted to patients with parasomnia. Whether elementary frowns translate a negative dream emotion should be determined, but overt negative facial expressions during RBD could be used as a direct access to dream emotions.

Keywords: corrugator; facial expression; frowning; parasomnia; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2014). The international classification of sleep disorders, 3rd ed. American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
    1. Bugalho, P., Lampreia, T., Miguel, R., Mendonça, M., Caetano, A., & Barbosa, R. (2017). Characterization of motor events in REM sleep behavior disorder. Journal of Neural Transmission, 124(10), 1183-1186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1759-y
    1. Challamel, M.J., & Lalhou, S. (2018). Spontaneous smiling and facial mimics in the neonate: A contribution to the functional role of paradoxical sleep during development. Neurophysiologie Clinique, 48(3), 131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2018.05.010
    1. Clé, M., Maranci, J. B., Weyn, Banningh S., Lanfranchi, J., Vidailhet, M., & Arnulf, I. (2019). Smiling asleep: A study of happy emotional expressions during adult sleep. Journal of Sleep Research, 28(4), e12814. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12814
    1. Craig, K., Prkachin, K., & Grunau, R. (2011). The facial expression of pain. In D. Turk, & R. Melzack (Eds.), Handbook of pain assessment (pp. 117-133). The Guilford Press.

LinkOut - more resources