non-REM sleep
Americannoun
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A period of sleep characterized by decreased metabolic activity, slowed breathing and heart rate, and the absence of dreaming. In humans and certain other animals, the sleep cycle occurs in five stages, the first four consisting of non-REM sleep and the last stage consisting of REM sleep. This cycle repeats itself about five times during a normal episode of sleep. In non-REM sleep, Stage I is characterized by drowsiness, Stage II by light sleep, and Stages III and IV by deep sleep. In adult humans, non-REM sleep accounts for about 75–80 percent of total sleep.
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Also called NREM sleep
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The researchers found that the reindeer's EEG readings during rumination resembled brainwave patterns that are indicative of non-REM sleep including increased slow-wave activity and sleep spindles.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 22, 2023
If someone is moving around, talking in their sleep or sleepwalking while appearing distressed, it’s more likely a night terror, which occurs during non-REM sleep, Schredl says.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 5, 2023
Your breathing and heart rate decelerate and your muscles relax as you slip into the second stage of non-REM sleep, where your body temperature drops and your brain waves get slower.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2023
They also spent 23 percent of their time in slow-wave sleep, which is the deepest kind of non-REM sleep.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2021
Salas said research suggests that dreams about things that happened at work or home, or about people you know, occur during non-REM sleep, the type of sleep that accounts for about 75 percent of our slumber.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 12, 2017
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
