Beta (20-28 Hz) and delta (0.3-3 Hz) EEGs oscillate reciprocally across NREM and REM sleep

Across-night oscillations of beta (20-28 Hz) and delta (0.3-3 Hz) electroencephalograms (EEGs) were examined with spectral analysis in 10 normal young adult subjects (Ss). In each S, power densities of beta were found to oscillate reciprocally with delta power density across both nonrapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Linear correlation coefficients between log power density of delta vs. beta were significant (p < 0.0001) for each S. An incidental observation was that beta power within REM was reliably lower in epochs with more eye movement activity. The reciprocal relationship between beta and delta holds implications for sleep physiology and supplements our earlier finding that sigma (12-15 Hz) oscillates reciprocally with delta within NREM sleep. These descriptions of the continuously varying EEG across sleep provide information not available when EEG measures are tabulated by discrete NREM periods and REM periods.