REM SLEEP

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does REM sleep mean? 

• REM SLEEP (noun)
  The noun REM SLEEP has 1 sense:

1. a recurring sleep state during which dreaming occurs; a state of rapidly shifting eye movements during sleep

  Familiarity information: REM SLEEP used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REM SLEEP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A recurring sleep state during which dreaming occurs; a state of rapidly shifting eye movements during sleep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

paradoxical sleep; rapid eye movement; rapid eye movement sleep; REM; REM sleep

Hypernyms ("REM sleep" is a kind of...):

sleep; slumber (a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended)

 Context examples 

Sleep is composed of various cycles in which there are different stages: slow and fast-wave, which make up non-REM sleep and REM sleep.

(Brain Is Still 'Connected' during Non-REM Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Our results suggest that the firing of a particular group of neurons during REM sleep controls whether the brain remembers new information after a good night’s sleep.”

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

A mental phenomenon occurring during sleep in which images, emotions, and thoughts are experienced with a sense of reality; occurs during REM sleep.

(Dreaming, NCI Thesaurus)

Spindles that occur outside normal non-REM sleep (while awake or during REM) could suggest IED activity in the temporal lobe.

(Seizures disrupt memory network, NIH)

Notably, stimulation of the same neurons during REM sleep did not show any effects on sleep/wakefulness states.

(The Secret Connection between Anxiety, Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Further experiments suggested that MCH neurons exclusively played this role during REM sleep.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

Various investigations have shown that communication between different areas of the cerebral cortex is interrupted during non-REM sleep and also when a patient is under anaesthesia, due to the loss of consciousness.

(Brain Is Still 'Connected' during Non-REM Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Mice performed better on memory tests when MCH neurons were turned off during REM sleep.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

When we sleep, our organism goes through different phases of sleep, however the brain remains interconnected during non-REM sleep, which was thought not to happen.

(Brain Is Still 'Connected' during Non-REM Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Moreover, recent studies in mice have shown that during sleep – including REM sleep – the brain selectively prunes synaptic connections made between neurons involved in certain types of learning.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)