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New Clues to the Origin and Functions of REM and NREM Sleep
J. Lee Kavanau Ph.D
This work proceeds from a deduction from evolutionary principles, that primitive
sleep was non-uniform preceding the origin of the REM and NREM states.
Coupling this conclusion with knowledge of the thermoregulatory responses to
ambient temperatures by sleeping mammals, and indications that the REM and
NREM sleep states originated during the evolution of warm-bloodedness in the
Mid-to-Late Triassic period, implicates ambient temperature as the environmental
variable responsible for the non-uniform condition of primitive sleep. Drawing on
the paleontology and paleoecology of early ancestors of mammals, together with
the uniquely warm and moist, moderate climates of the times, a sequence of
selective pressures and resulting adaptations are proposed, leading to the origin
of REM and NREM sleep and a basis for their cyclic alternation. (Sleep and
Hypnosis 2002;4(3):85-92)
| Keywords: brain-wave functions, primitive sleep, NREM-REM cycles, sleep |
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