Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Rapid eye movement density is reduced in the normal elderly.

Nato Darchia1, Ian G Campbell, Irwin Feinberg

  • 1University of California, Davis 95616, USA.

Sleep
|January 30, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Elderly adults show significantly lower eye movement density (EMD) during rapid eye movement sleep compared to younger adults, likely due to aging brain changes. EMD appears to be a stable individual trait.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Relationship between sleep, stress and psychological distress in internally displaced persons depends on the length of displacement.

Scientific reports·2026
Same author

A scalable, multi-resolution consensus clustering approach for prioritizing robust signals from high-throughput screens.

Briefings in bioinformatics·2026
Same author

Identifying therapeutic targets in low-grade serous ovarian carcinomas with no specific molecular profile.

The Journal of pathology·2026
Same author

Blending substantive and methodological expertise into statistical models: Longitudinal model development.

The British journal of mathematical and statistical psychology·2026
Same author

Investigating the contribution of rare non-coding variants in BRCA1, BRCA2 and PALB2 to hereditary breast cancer.

NPJ breast cancer·2026
Same author

Breast cancers arising in high mammographic density tissue harbor tumor-promoting immune profiles.

NPJ breast cancer·2026

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sleep Science
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • Aging affects sleep architecture, but its impact on rapid eye movement (REM) sleep eye movement density (EMD) is debated.
  • Previous research presents conflicting evidence regarding age-related changes in REM sleep EMD.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To objectively quantify and compare eye movement density (EMD) in REM sleep between young and elderly normal adults.
  • To investigate whether aging impacts EMD and to identify contributing factors such as eye movement incidence or amplitude.

Main Methods:

  • Sleep electroencephalogram and electrooculogram were recorded in 19 young and 19 elderly normal adults over four baseline nights.
  • Eye movement density (EMD) was computer-measured using validated software, analyzing integrated amplitude per REM sleep stage.
  • Eye movement incidence and amplitude were specifically assessed to determine their contribution to EMD variations.

Main Results:

  • Elderly subjects exhibited substantially and significantly lower REM sleep EMD compared to young adults.
  • Period-amplitude analysis revealed that reduced eye movement incidence, not decreased amplitude, was the primary cause of lower EMD in the elderly.
  • Visual scoring confirmed the statistically significant age-related difference in EMD.

Conclusions:

  • The incidence of eye movements during REM sleep is significantly reduced in the elderly, potentially due to degenerative brain changes associated with aging.
  • Eye movement density (EMD) demonstrates stability as an individual trait across different nights in both young and elderly adults.
  • Further research is warranted to establish normative EMD values across a wider age range and explore its relationship with cognitive function in older adults.

Related Experiment Videos