Abstract
NORMAL nocturnal monophasic sleep is characterised by the cyclic alternation of rapid eye movement (REM) and nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, with the REM phase of this cycle recurring approximately every 90–110 min. Kleitman1 hypothesised that an analogous 90–110 min basic rest–activity cycle (BRAC) exists during the awake state, implying a biological clock that continues to operate with the same periodicity throughout the 24-h period (that is, an activity-independent clock). We report here on the effect of altered sleep–wake schedules on the REM cycle and present evidence that the REM cycle is sleep-dependent—it operates only when the organism is sleeping and is not an expression of an activity-independent rhythm.
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MOSES, J., LUBIN, A., JOHNSON, L. et al. Rapid eye movement cycle is a sleep-dependent rhythm. Nature 265, 360–361 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/265360a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/265360a0
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