Rapid eye movement sleep

About: Rapid eye movement sleep is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3740 publications have been published within this topic receiving 183415 citations. The topic is also known as: REM sleep & REMS.

Pharmacologically increasing sleep spindles enhances recognition for negative and high-arousal memories

Abstract: Sleep affects declarative memory for emotional stimuli differently than it affects declarative memory for nonemotional stimuli. However, the interaction between specific sleep characteristics and emotional memory is not well understood. Recent studies on how sleep affects emotional memory have focused on rapid eye movement sleep REM but have not addressed non-REM sleep, particularly sleep spindles. This is despite the fact that sleep spindles are implicated in declarative memory as well as neural models of memory consolidation e.g., hippocampal neural replay. Additionally, many studies examine a limited range of emotional stimuli and fail to disentangle differences in memory performance because of variance in valence and arousal. Here, we experimentally increase non-REM sleep features, sleep spindle density, and SWS, with pharmacological interventions using zolpidem Ambien and sodium oxybate Xyrem during daytime naps. We use a full spread of emotional stimuli to test all levels of valence and arousal. We find that increasing sleep spindle density increases memory discrimination da for highly arousing and negative stimuli without altering measures of bias ca. These results indicate a broader role for sleep in the processing of emotional stimuli with differing effects based on arousal and valence, and they raise the possibility that sleep spindles causally facilitate emotional memory consolidation. These findings are discussed in terms of the known use of hypnotics in individuals with emotional mood disorders.

Cardiorespiratory adaptation during sleep in infants and children

Abstract: The cardiorespiratory control system undergoes functional maturation after birth. Until this process is completed, the cardiorespiratory system is unstable, placing infants at risk for cardiorespiratory disturbances, especially during sleep. The profound influence of states of alertness on respiratory and cardiac control has been the focus of intense scrutiny during the last decade. The effects of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep on various mechanisms involved in cardiorespiratory control are of particular significance during the postnatal period since newborns spend much of their time in this sleep state. In fullterm newborns, REM sleep occupies more than 50% of total sleep time, and this percentage is even greater in preterm newborns. From term to six months of age, the proportion of REM sleep decreases. Since respiratory and cardiac disturbances are known to occur selectively during REM sleep, the predominance of REM sleep may be a risk factor for abnormal sleep-related events during early infancy. Awareness of these developmental changes in sleep patterns is important for clinicians dealing with problems such as apparent life-threatening events (ALTE), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and/or cardiorespiratory responses to respiratory disorders. Our current understanding of respiratory and cardiac control rests mainly on studies conducted during the first months of life. There is a paucity of data on late infancy and early childhood. The present paper will review available data on how sleep affects 1) ventilatory mechanics, in particular of the upper airways and the chest wall; ventilation and apnea; gas exchange; chemoreceptor function; and arousal responses; 2) changes in heart rate and heart rate variability, and the occurrence and mechanisms of bradycardia.