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Special phase of sleep in mammals and birds, defined by the random/rapid movement of the eyes A sample hypnogram (electroencephalogram of sleep) showing sleep cycles characterized by increasing paradoxical (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. EEG of a mouse that reveals REM sleep being identified by prominent theta-rhythm Fast eye movement sleep (Rapid Eye Movement or REMS) is a special stage of sleep in mammals and birds, defined by random rapid motion of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the tendency of the sleeper to dream vividly.
Electrical and chemical activity managing this stage appears to originate in the brain stem and is characterized most significantly by an abundance of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, integrated with a nearly total absence of monoamine neurotransmitters histamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. REM sleep is physiologically various from the other phases of sleep, which are collectively referred to as non-REM sleep (NREM sleep, NREMS, synchronized sleep).

As sleep cycles continue, they move towards a greater percentage of Rapid Eye Movement. The shift to Rapid Eye Movement brings significant physical modifications, starting with electrical bursts called "ponto-geniculo-occipital waves" (PGO waves) coming from the brain stem. Organisms in Rapid Eye Movement suspend central homeostasis, allowing big variations in respiration, thermoregulation, and circulation which do not occur in any other modes of sleeping or waking.



In 1953 Teacher Nathaniel Kleitman and his student Eugene Aserinsky defined fast eye movement and linked it to dreams. Look At This Piece was additional explained by researchers including William Dement and Michel Jouvet. Lots of experiments have involved awakening guinea pig whenever they begin to get in the Rapid Eye Movement phase, consequently producing a state understood as Rapid Eye Movement deprivation.
Strategies of neurosurgery, chemical injection, electroencephalography, positron emission tomography, and reports of dreamers upon waking, have all been utilized to study this stage of sleep. Physiology [edit] Electrical activity in the brain [modify] Polysomnographic record of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. EEG highlighted by red box. Eye movement highlighted by red line. Rapid Eye Movement is "paradoxical" because of its similarities to wakefulness.
Electroencephalography throughout REM deep sleep reveals quick, low amplitude, desynchronized neural oscillation (brainwaves) that resemble the pattern seen throughout wakefulness which vary from the slow (delta) waves pattern of NREM deep sleep. An important element of this contrast is the 3-10 Hz theta rhythm in the hippocampus and 4060 Hz gamma waves in the cortex; patterns of EEG activity comparable to these rhythms are also observed throughout wakefulness.