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This month celebrates the 50th anniversary of the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep by Aserinsky and Kleitman at the University of Chicago in 1953. Much of what is known about sleep stems from this groundbreaking discovery. This is an active period of sleep marked in humans by intense activity in the brain and rapid bursts of eye movements. At the same time, scientists discovered that REM sleep is when dreaming occurs. Interestingly, before the 1950s, most scientists thought of sleep as an unchanging, dormant period of little interest. Hardly anything was known about sleep or dreaming.
Sleep consumes one-third of our lifetimes and can overpower all other needs. Brain activity during REM sleep begins in the pons, (in the brainstem) and neighboring midbrain regions. The pons sends signals to the thalamus and to the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for most thought processes. It also sends signals to turn off motor neurons in the spinal cord, causing a temporary paralysis that prevents movement.
The REM sleep discovery: 1) suggested that sleep is a complex activity, fundamentally different from waking, but just as active. 2) provided a biological marker for dreaming so that immediate dream reports could be collected. 3) compelled scientists to examine the physiology of sleep. The search for the function or functions of REM sleep continues to galvanize sleep research today and as is the case with most things in medicine, we discover the most by studying the disorders.
There are a number of sleep disorders: the Dyssomnias (Disorders of sleep or wakefulness) and the Parasomnias (Disorder of arousal, partial arousal or sleep stage transition). Disorders specifically associated with REM Sleep include nightmares, sleep paralysis and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD).
Some sleep resources:
The Journal of Neuropsychiatry has reprinted the entire original article from 1953.
Article on the evolution of REM sleep from Department of Psychiatry and Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles
Eastern Virginia Medical School - Types of Sleep Disorders
Recognition and Management of Sleep Disorders Textbook
Sleep Medicine Home Page
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream. Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1
11:30:00 PM 
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