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Article: Deaths
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- July 24, 1998
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The Associated Press
AP Online
07-24-1998
CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) _ Eugene Aserinsky, a scientist who discovered rapid eye movement _ or REM _ sleep, died Wednesday after his car veered off the road and crashed into a tree. He was 77.
It was not immediately known what caused the accident north of San Diego.
In 1952, Aserinsky, then a researcher at the University of Chicago, was a co-discoverer of REM sleep with Nathaniel Kleitman. Its existence showed that the brain was in an active state during sleep, rather than a resting state.
REM was found to average about 22 percent of total sleep time. Non-REM sleep has four stages, the last of which is the deep, restorative sleep associated ...