microsleepn.
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)sliːp/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌslip/, /ˈmaɪkrəˌslip/ Sleep lasting for a very short period of time (spec. up to ten seconds), seen especially in persons with sleep disorders; an occasion of such sleep.
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the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [noun] > short or light
microsleep1945
1945 W. T. Liberson in Digest Neurol. & Psychiatry 13 106 Another feature which we described is ‘micro~sleep’, a paroxysmal sleep of 1–10 seconds.
1959 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 5 Sept. 14/1 Sleep deprivation brings with it an increasing burden of drowsiness..and brief lapses of awareness or ‘microsleeps’.
1969 Sunday Times 16 Feb. (Colour Suppl.) 44/4 Tiny seizures of sleep known as microsleeps and lasting two or three seconds have occurred in people deprived of sleep.
1974 Times 3 Dec. 3/1 A driver can be asleep for short periods without knowing it and without anyone else being aware of it... A neurologist..described the state as ‘micro-sleep’... They were in fact asleep for periods lasting from five to 10 seconds.
1987 National Geographic Dec. 805/2 When body clock and work schedule clash, people can drift in and out of so-called microsleeps without being aware of them.
1992 New Scientist Jan. 23/1 Such events are called ‘microsleeps’, where consciousness is clouding and the brain is losing contact with reality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1945