slow-wave sleep

American  

[sloh-weyv sleep] / ˈsloʊˈweɪv ˈslip /

noun

Physiology.

1. a recurrent period of deep sleep, typically totaling five or six hours a night, distinguished by the presence of slow brain waves and by very little dreaming. SWS

---

Etymology

Origin of slow-wave sleep

First recorded in 1965–70; slow ( def. ) + wave ( def. )

Example Sentences

Prior to this research, scientists already understood that each night, memories transfer from short-term storage in the hippocampus to long-term storage in the neocortex during slow-wave sleep.

From Salon • Dec. 17, 2024

"We used these to examine how slow-wave sleep changed with ageing and whether changes in slow-wave sleep percentage were associated with the risk of later-life dementia up to 17 years later," he said.

From Science Daily • Oct. 30, 2023

For example, electrical synapses in the thalamus are thought to regulate slow-wave sleep, and disruption of these synapses can cause seizures.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

These sleep spindles often co-occur with slow-wave sleep, a particular frequency of slowly oscillating EEG activity.

From Washington Post • Feb. 5, 2022

Their entire brains slipped into slow-wave sleep, interrupted from time to time by periods of R.E.M.

From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2018