Body Movements During Sleep After Sleep Loss

ABSTRACTFollowing 4 baseline nights, 7 Ss were deprived of REM sleep for 3 nights and 7 were deprived of stage 4 sleep. Both groups were then deprived of total sleep for 1 night and then allowed 2 nights of uninterrupted recovery sleep. Compared to baseline nights, on the first recovery night the number of body movements was significantly reduced in all sleep stages and for total sleep. On the second recovery night, the number of movements was back to baseline level. The increased amount of slow‐wave sleep (stages 3 and 4) during recovery sleep was not the primary reason for the reduced body motility.