Sleep stage

Sleep stage is a term used in sleep research and sleep medicine to classify sleep . The individual sleep stages have characteristic features in the electrical activity of the brain and can be measured and delimited. In the ultradian sleep cycle , their sequence and extent are important for physiological recovery processes, emotional well-being as well as learning and memory processes.

Sleep is initially divided into two forms: REM sleep and non-REM sleep (also called NREM sleep). REM sleep is the stage R designates. NREM sleep is referred to as stage N and is further divided into stages N1, N2 and N3. This nomenclature goes back to a 2007 publication by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine .

The assignment of time periods of sleep to the sleep stages occurs during the evaluation of the examination carried out by means of polysomnography and is used to evaluate sleep in the context of the diagnosis of sleep disorders . It is shown in the sleep profile (hypnogram). In this context, the term stage W is used, which stands for the waking state.

An earlier nomenclature goes back to a publication by Allan Rechtschaffen and Anthony Kales in 1968. There, NREM sleep was divided into four stages, two light sleep stages and two deep sleep stages. The two deep sleep stages are now combined as stage N3.

literature

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (Ed.): The AASM Manual for Scoring Sleep and Associated Events. Rules, technology and technical specifications . 1st edition. Steinkopff-Verlag, Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7985-1851-3 .

Web links

Sleep stage determination according to Rechtschaffen and Kales , (PDF, 28 kB), accessed December 22, 2012

Individual evidence

↑ Conrad Iber, Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Andrew L. Chesson, Stuart F. Quan: The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology, and Technical Specifications . Ed .: American Academy of Sleep Medicine. AASM, Westchester, Ill. 2007.
↑ S3 guideline for non-restful sleep / sleep disorders of the German Society for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine (DGSM). In: AWMF online (as of 2009)
^ Allan Rechtsschaffen, Anthony Kales: A manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects . No. 204 . US Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Services-National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness , Neurological Information Network, 1968.

[Scoring2007-1] Conrad Iber, Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Andrew L. Chesson, Stuart F. Quan: The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology, and Technical Specifications . Ed .: American Academy of Sleep Medicine. AASM, Westchester, Ill. 2007.

[S3DGSM-2] S3 guideline for non-restful sleep / sleep disorders of the German Society for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine (DGSM). In: AWMF online (as of 2009)

[RuK1968-3] Allan Rechtsschaffen, Anthony Kales: A manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects . No. 204 . US Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Services-National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness , Neurological Information Network, 1968.