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
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"Being able to reduce interruptions during the important stages of non-REM sleep by suppressing VGLUT2 activity would be groundbreaking for individuals struggling with disrupted sleep from disorders like insomnia or PTSD."
From Science Daily • Dec. 13, 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
Sleepwalking and sleep talking, which occur more often during childhood and adolescence, take place during non-REM sleep.
From Scientific American • Jan. 24, 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.
