Non-rapid eye movement sleep activation occurs during NREM that is comparable to the type that occurs during REM. It is this sub-cortical activation that results in dreaming during the NREM stage during the morning hours. During non-REM sleep, the tonic drive to most respiratory muscles of the upper airway is inhibited. This has two consequences: However, because the diaphragm is largely driven by the autonomous system, it is relatively spared of non-REM inhibition. As such, the suction pressures it generates stay the same. This narrows the upper airway during sleep, increasing resistance and making airflow through the upper airway turbulent and noisy. For example,
Rapid eye movement sleep energy use in REM sleep, as measured by oxygen and glucose metabolism, equals or exceeds energy use in waking. The rate in non-REM sleep is 11 – 40% lower. Neural activity during REM sleep seems to originate in the brain stem, especially the pontine tegmentum and locus coeruleus. REM sleep is punctuated and immediately preceded by PGO (ponto-geniculo-occipital) waves, bursts of electrical activity originating in the brain stem. (PGO waves have long been measured directly in cats but not in humans because of constraints on experimentation; however comparable effects have been observed in humans during "phasic" events which occur during