Sleep Cycle Characteristics in Infants

Abstract

Within the sleep of adults and infants there are cyclic fluctuations between quiet and active sleep. These fluctuations may also persist during wakefulness as rest-activity cycles but are less readily detected. They constitute a fundamental biological rhythm on which other daily rhythms are superimposed. In adults the rest-activity cycle is 90 minutes in duration. The quiet-active sleep cycles of term, 3-, and 8-month-old infants were determined by polygraphic recording of eye and body movements, respirations, and electroencephalogram. The cycle length at term was 47 minutes and 49 and 50 minutes at 3 and 8 months. The increase in cycle length with maturation was not significant, but there was a significant change in the proportion of quiet to active sleep within a cycle. At term they were equal, while at 8 months quiet sleep was twice as long as active sleep. Quiet sleep is a highly controlled state requiring complex feedback mechanisms. The increasing proportion of quiet sleep may be a significant measure of normal brain development.

Sleep Studies for Clinical Indications during the First Year of Life: Infants Are Not Small Children

“…Ultradian sleep cycles in neonates last 30-70 min with predominantly REM sleep onset, contrary to older infants and children who have cycles of 75-90 min duration with NREM sleep onset [5]. Sleep architecture evolves as chronological age progresses with full-term neonates spending 50% of total sleep time in REM (active) sleep that decreases gradually as infant sleep consolidates and its total duration declines [6]. Arousals facilitate sleep stage changes or transition to wakefulness and they also represent a physiologic protective response to airway obstruction and hypoxemia, the latter being a relatively weak arousing stimulus [5,7].…”

Effects of skin‐to‐skin contact on full‐term infants’ stress reactivity and quality of mother–infant interactions

“…Providing 1 h of SSC uninterruptedly was requested for two reasons. First, a single sleep cycle of a newborn infant lasts approximately 47 min, and hence it would be less likely that infants are woken up during a cycle of sleep if a full hour of SSC is provided (Stern et al., 1969). Second, undressing and dressing an infant has been shown to elicit mild distress, and providing SSC spread over several sessions a day would require infants to be undressed and dressed more often, provoking unnecessary stress in the infant (Jansen et al., 2010b).…”

Normal sleep and sleep disorders in adults and children.

“…Children's sleep disorders should be described separately, to emphasize that children should not be diagnosed and treated as "little adults." sleep in infants is similar to REM sleep in adults) and active sleep accounts for more than half of total sleep time (Stern, Parmelee, Akiyama, Schultz, & Wenner, 1969). In the newborn, sleep is randomly distributed throughout the 24-hour day with no consolidation of sleep evident.…”