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The possibility of different sleep stage characteristics being associated with different sleep lengths was explored by comparing two groups of high school seniors, who characteristically slept 6(1/2) hours or less or who slept 8(1/2) hours or more, with an age-matched control group not selected on the basis of sleep length. All-night electroencephalography was used to examine the sleep stage characteristics of these groups. Compared with the unselected age-matched group, the short sleepers showed no significant diminution in their stage 4 (deep) or rapid eye movement (dream) sleep. The long sleepers were observed to obtain significantly more rapid eye movement sleep than did the other groups.
Webb et al. (Fri,) studied this question.