slow-wave sleep

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Related to slow-wave sleep: deep sleep

slow′-wave′ sleep`

a recurrent period of deep sleep distinguished by the presence of slow brain waves and by very little dreaming. Also called S sleep. Compare REM sleep.
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The entire cycle of slow-wave sleep and REM takes about 90 minutes.
The neurons of nucleus accumbens were found to have significant ability to induce slow-wave sleep, which is characterized by high-voltage slow brain waves and accounts for the majority of our natural sleep.
It is called slow-wave sleep and it seems to be involved with memory formation, rather than dreaming.
1) Slow-wave sleep is associated with a decreased use of glucose mediated by the brain, stimulation of growth hormone release, inhibition of cortisol secretion, and a decrease in sympathetic activity.
sup][2] Absent of slow-wave sleep and significantly decreased REM sleep with high arousal indices demonstrated the patient's poor sleep quality.
For example, frequent awakenings that disrupt deep, slow-wave sleep appear to interfere with the movement of information from short-term to long-term memory storage, and have been linked to a reduction in the number of gray cells in key brain regions.
During a deep sleep stage known as slow-wave sleep, a network of nerve cells in the left side of the brain showed less sleep-related activity than the corresponding network on the right side.
A recent study from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine reported that people who ate more fiber tended to spend more time in restorative deep, slow-wave sleep compared to those who ate more saturated fat and sugar.
6) Slow-wave sleep appears to be most necessary for recovering from sleep deficit; it is also vital for reorganising the central nervous system and integrating learning and memory.
A short nap finishes before the onset of deep slow-wave sleep.
Plus, according to recent research at the University of Rochester, "most toxins, including the ones linked with Alzheimer's disease, are flushed from your brain during slow-wave sleep.