A comparative study of quiet sleep, active sleep, and waking on the first 2 days of life

✍ Scribed by Deborah A. Carroll; Victor H. Denenberg; Evelyn B. Thoman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 77 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0012-1630
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199907)35:1<43::aid-dev6>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

Direct behavioral observation and motility monitoring procedures provide reliable data, and both are appropriate for sleep/wake state measurements starting immediately after birth. Using these procedures, newborn rats, rabbits, and humans were found to have a greater amount of quiet sleep on the day of birth rather than 24 hr later. Changes in active sleep and wake were inconsistent across the 2 days. The quiet sleep findings are contrary to the developmental course which increases with age. The findings are interpreted as a temporary adaptive response to the stress of the birth process.