title: Sleep stage characteristics of long and short sleepers.
abstract: The possibility of different sleep stage characteristics being associated with different sleep lengths was explored by comparing two groups of high school seniors, who characteristically slept 6(1/2) hours or less or who slept 8(1/2) hours or more, with an age-matched control group not selected on the basis of sleep length. All-night electroencephalography was used to examine the sleep stage characteristics of these groups. Compared with the unselected age-matched group, the short sleepers showed no significant diminution in their stage 4 (deep) or rapid eye movement (dream) sleep. The long sleepers were observed to obtain significantly more rapid eye movement sleep than did the other groups.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D012894:Sleep Stages; D012895:Sleep, REM; D013997:Time Factors