Mental Process
rem sleep Audio
rem sleep [ rehm sleep ]
Subclass of:
Sleep Stages
Definitions related to rem sleep:
  • One of the five stages of sleep. During rapid eye movement sleep, the eyes move rapidly while closed and dreams occur. Rapid eye movement sleep is the lightest stage of sleep, during which a person may wake easily. During several hours of normal sleep, a person will go through several sleep cycles that include rapid eye movement sleep and the 4 stages of non-rapid eye movement (light to deep sleep).
    NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • Stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eye and low voltage fast pattern EEG; usually associated with dreaming.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • (sleep, rem) A stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eye and low voltage fast pattern EEG. It is usually associated with dreaming.
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
  • (rapid eye movement sleep) A period of intense brain activity during sleep, often associated with dreams; named for the rapid eye movements that occur during this time. Also called dreaming sleep.
    Harvard Dictionary of Health Terms
    Harvard Medical Publishing, 2011
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