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- News from the Institutes
How flies sleep – and still manage to escape
Charité study in Nature uncovers fundamental processes in the fly brain
21.08.2025
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- Glossary
Sleep phases
During sleep, we go through several non-REM/REM cycles, each lasting around 90 minutes. The non-REM phases consist of stages N1, N2, and N3, with slow delta waves with frequencies of 0.5–2 Hz dominating in N3 (deep sleep). REM sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements, low-amplitude, mixed-frequency brain activity, and greatly reduced muscle tone. Deep sleep predominates at the beginning of the night, while the proportion of REM sleep increases in later cycles.
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- Glossary
REM sleep
"REM" stands for "rapid eye movement" – and rapid eye movements are also characteristic of REM sleep. During the course of a night, we go through several such REM phases, which are interrupted by non-REM phases. REM sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements, low-amplitude brain activity of mixed frequencies, and reduced muscle tone. Pulse and respiratory rate, on the other hand, are increased. In addition, we dream particularly vividly and intensely during these phases. People who are awakened from REM sleep often report vivid, concrete, and emotional dreams, while those awakened from non-REM sleep tend to report more abstract dreams that resemble thoughts.
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Glossar
15.03.2017
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- Glossary
Manic
A mental disorder characterized by changes in mood. Manic individuals are extremely restless. Symptoms can also include excessive self-confidence, compulsive talking, reduced need for sleep, and impulsiveness. Mania most commonly manifests as part of bipolar disorder, in which manic and depressive phases alternate. This clinical picture is associated with an imbalance of various neurotransmitters in the brain. Accordingly, psychiatrists often treat mania with neuroleptics, which are designed to weaken the effect of neurotransmitters.
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- Thinking
- Consciousness
Playing Tennis in a vegetative State
Adrian Owen and colleagues use brain scans to search for the hidden minds of coma patients.
12.06.2025
