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An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?

Since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Aserinsky and Kleitman, 1953), sleep has been described as a succession of cycles of non-REM (NREM) and REM sleep episodes. The hypothesis of short-term REM sleep homeostasis, which is currently the basis of most credible theories on sleep regul...

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Autor principal: Le Bon, Olivier
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060555/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897348
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.627193
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author Le Bon, Olivier
author_facet Le Bon, Olivier
author_sort Le Bon, Olivier
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description Since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Aserinsky and Kleitman, 1953), sleep has been described as a succession of cycles of non-REM (NREM) and REM sleep episodes. The hypothesis of short-term REM sleep homeostasis, which is currently the basis of most credible theories on sleep regulation, is built upon a positive correlation between the duration of a REM sleep episode and the duration of the interval until the next REM sleep episode (inter-REM interval): the duration of REM sleep would therefore predict the duration of this interval. However, the high variability of inter-REM intervals, especially in polyphasic sleep, argues against a simple oscillator model. A new “asymmetrical” hypothesis is presented here, where REM sleep episodes only determine the duration of a proportional post-REM refractory period (PRRP), during which REM sleep is forbidden and the only remaining options are isolated NREM episodes or waking. After the PRRP, all three options are available again (NREM, REM, and Wake). I will explain why I think this hypothesis also calls into question the notion of NREM-REM sleep cycles.
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spelling pubmed-80605552021-04-23 An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle? Le Bon, Olivier Front Neurosci Neuroscience Since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Aserinsky and Kleitman, 1953), sleep has been described as a succession of cycles of non-REM (NREM) and REM sleep episodes. The hypothesis of short-term REM sleep homeostasis, which is currently the basis of most credible theories on sleep regulation, is built upon a positive correlation between the duration of a REM sleep episode and the duration of the interval until the next REM sleep episode (inter-REM interval): the duration of REM sleep would therefore predict the duration of this interval. However, the high variability of inter-REM intervals, especially in polyphasic sleep, argues against a simple oscillator model. A new “asymmetrical” hypothesis is presented here, where REM sleep episodes only determine the duration of a proportional post-REM refractory period (PRRP), during which REM sleep is forbidden and the only remaining options are isolated NREM episodes or waking. After the PRRP, all three options are available again (NREM, REM, and Wake). I will explain why I think this hypothesis also calls into question the notion of NREM-REM sleep cycles. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8060555/ /pubmed/33897348 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.627193 Text en Copyright © 2021 Le Bon. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Le Bon, Olivier
An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title_full An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title_fullStr An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title_full_unstemmed An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title_short An Asymmetrical Hypothesis for the NREM-REM Sleep Alternation—What Is the NREM-REM Cycle?
title_sort asymmetrical hypothesis for the nrem-rem sleep alternation—what is the nrem-rem cycle?
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060555/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897348
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.627193
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