REM rebound is the lengthening and increasing frequency and depth of
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which occurs after periods of
sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either Chronic (medicine), chronic ...
. When people have been prevented from experiencing REM, they take less time than usual to attain the REM state.
When people are unable to obtain an adequate amount of REM sleep, the pressure to obtain REM sleep builds up. When the subject is able to sleep, they will spend a higher percentage of the night in REM sleep.
After early research connected rapid eye movement with dreaming and established that it made up about 20% of normal human sleep, experimenters started depriving test subjects of only REM sleep, to test its unique importance. Every time a subject's electroencephalogram and eye movements indicated the beginning of REM sleep, the experimenter would thoroughly wake them for several minutes. As this "dream deprivation" continued, tendency to initiate REM increased, and the subjects were woken up more and more times each night. The subjects became irritable, anxious, and hungry, and several left the study early. After five nights, the remaining subjects were allowed to sleep undisturbed, and showed a significant increase in percentage of sleep devoted to REM: from an average of 19.4% to an average of 26.6%. These effects were significant in comparison with a control group woken up on an equal number of occasions each night, at arbitrary times.
The fact that REM rebound exists shows that sleep and achievement of specific sleep stages are needed by the brain. In some marine mammals, such as
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...
s and
fur seal
Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family Otariidae. They are much more closely related to sea lions than Earless seal, true seals, and share with them external ears (Pinna (anatomy ...
s, when one brain hemisphere is deprived of REM sleep, only the deprived hemisphere will go into REM rebound. The other hemisphere will be unaffected.
REM rebound is common to those who take certain
sleeping aids and it is also often seen in the first few nights after patients with
sleep apnea
Sleep apnea (sleep apnoea or sleep apnœa in British English) is a sleep-related breathing disorder in which repetitive Apnea, pauses in breathing, periods of shallow breathing, or collapse of the upper airway during sleep results in poor vent ...
are placed on
CPAP. Alcohol can also affect REM sleep; it suppresses it during the first half of the night, leading to a rebound four to five hours after sleep onset.
Although alcohol can decrease the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, it will cause a disruption in the sleep cycles. REM sleep is decreased during the first half of the sleep period and stage 1 sleep is increased in the second half of the sleep period. Most antidepressants, in particular selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as
citalopram
Citalopram, sold under the brand name Celexa among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and soci ...
and
paroxetine
Paroxetine ( ), sold under the brand name Paxil among others, is an Antidepressant, antidepressant medication of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, o ...
, are potent inhibitors of REM sleep and may also cause a REM rebound on discontinuation.
See also
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Sleep
Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...
*
Rapid eye movement sleep
Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep or REMS) is a unique phase of sleep in mammals (including humans) and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the s ...
(REM)
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Polysomnography
Polysomnography (PSG) is a multi-parameter type of sleep study and a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine. The test result is called a polysomnogram, also abbreviated PSG. The name is derived from Greek and Latin roots: the Greek πολύς ('' ...
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Sleep disorder
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder affecting an individual's sleep patterns, sometimes impacting physical, mental, social, and emotional functioning. Polysomnography and actigraphy are tests commonly ordered for diagnosing sle ...
*
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either Chronic (medicine), chronic ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rem Rebound
Sleep physiology
Sleeplessness and sleep deprivation