Our declining sleep duration over early human infant development is largely through REM sleep (REM), loss, not of nonREM. It coincides with the infant's increasing locomotion providing for multisensory inputs (‘exploratory wakefulness’ – EW), together facilitating neural restructuring and behavioural adaptations (‘neuroplasticity’). EW also involves curiosity, novelty, navigation, spatial memory, associated emotions, and feeding; all having brain processes particularly active in REM. It is proposed that: 1) REM is a proxy for EW in facilitating neuroplasticity; 2) necessitating REM having a locomotor output, actively inhibited (the atonia); 3) human adults retain many (neotenous) infant characteristics including large amounts of REM towards the end of usual sleep, where REM's qualitative changes indicate reduced sleep pressure, 4) as in infancy, some of our adult REM remains replaceable by EW (without REM rebounds), mostly in this final REM episode whenever EW need prevails. Accordingly, our adult sleep duration is adaptable to habitual shortening via this REM episode substituted by purposeful EW, which could provide extra (day) light exposure for circadian synchrony. Such processes may underlie seasonally shorter (6 h) sleep, eg in hunter-gather people. This flexibility of REM questions the extent of our western ‘chronic sleep debt’. Evidence is provided to counter claims that this absent REM would cause obesity and related disorders. 200w.

在人类婴儿早期发育过程中，我们持续的睡眠时间减少主要是由于REM睡眠（REM）引起的，而不是非REM引起的。这与婴儿不断增加的运动提供多感官输入（“探索性清醒” – EW）相吻合，同时也促进了神经重构和行为适应（“神经可塑性”）。EW还涉及好奇心，新颖性，导航，空间记忆，相关的情感和进食；所有的人的大脑过程在REM中特别活跃。建议：1）REM是EW在促进神经可塑性中的代表；2）必须使REM具有运动性输出，并被积极抑制（心律失常）；3）人类成年人保留许多（新生的）婴儿特征，包括在正常睡眠快要结束时出现大量的REM，其中REM的质变表明睡眠压力降低，4）与婴儿期一样，我们的一些成人REM仍然可以被EW替代（没有REM反弹），主要是在需要EW的最后一个REM发作中。因此，我们的成年人的睡眠时间可以通过有目的的EW替代此REM发作来适应习惯性缩短，这可以为昼夜节律同步提供额外的（日）光照。这样的过程可能是季节性较短（6小时）的睡眠的基础，例如在猎人聚集的人群中。REM的这种灵活性质疑我们西方“长期睡眠债务”的程度。为反驳这种缺乏的REM会引起肥胖症和相关疾病提供了证据。200w。我们的成年睡眠时间可以通过有意的EW代替的REM发作来适应习惯性缩短，这可以为昼夜节律同步提供额外的（日）光照。这样的过程可能是季节性较短（6小时）的睡眠的基础，例如在猎人聚集的人群中。REM的这种灵活性质疑我们西方“长期睡眠债务”的程度。为反驳这种缺乏的REM会引起肥胖症和相关疾病提供了证据。200w。我们的成年睡眠时间可以通过有意的EW代替的REM发作来适应习惯性缩短，这可以为昼夜节律同步提供额外的（日）光照。这样的过程可能是季节性较短（6小时）的睡眠的基础，例如在猎人聚集的人群中。REM的这种灵活性质疑我们西方“长期睡眠债务”的程度。为反驳这种缺乏的REM会引起肥胖症和相关疾病提供了证据。200w。