NONREPLICABILITY OF SEASONAL RHYTHM IN REM-SLEEP IN A SUBTROPICAL CLIMATE

The present paper attempts to replicate Askenasy and Goldstein's (1995 ) findings of seasonality in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep measures i n patients recorded in Israel. Analysis of sleep stage data of 706 non selected male sleep apnea patients failed to find seasonality in REM s leep measures. In contrast, our data revealed stability of REM time wi th a maximum difference between seasons of 7.0 minutes. Age difference s were found in sleep efficiency, true sleep time, and amount and perc entage of REM sleep, with patients over 60 having a lower sleep effici ency, shorter true sleep, and REM sleep time than patients under 60. R apid eye movement latency was also found to differ according to apnea severity, with patients who had >40 apneas and hypopneas per hour of s leep having a longer latency than those with fewer apneas and hypopnea s.