Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles published a paper in The Lancet that gives
Scientists have noticed that in naturewarm-blooded creatures with lower body temperatures tend to have longer periods of REM sleep. And in humans and other animals with a higher body temperature, the duration of this phase is usually shorter.
Researchers believe that this ratio is notby chance. During the REM phase, the brain becomes very active, which leads to an increase in heart rate and temperature. Since REM sleep comes after slow sleep, in which all processes slow down, it is needed to avoid hypothermia, scientists say.
REM sleep can be thought of as thermostaticallya controlled heating mechanism of the brain that is triggered by a drop in temperature associated with a decrease in metabolism and energy consumption during non-REM sleep.
Jerome Siegel, researcher at UCLA
The scientist notes that it is this reason that canlead to seasonal fluctuations in sleep duration. Even those animals that do not hibernate sleep longer in winter. The same applies to humans: in hunter-gatherer communities, people sleep about an hour longer during the winter months.
To test the hypothesis and learn more aboutREM sleep, the researchers want to do a series of experiments with animals that only sleep on one hemisphere (like dolphins and fur seals). Such animals do not require additional heating, which means that their lack of REM sleep will confirm the hypothesis.
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