REM cannot be strictly necessary because I don't get any REM sleep (or so little it's difficult to detect) due to severe sleep apnea (AHI=148). Three different

REM cannot be strictly necessary because I don't get any REM sleep (or so little it's difficult to detect) due to severe sleep apnea (AHI=148). Three different sleep studies (using two unrelated labs+doctors) produced very similar results. The hypnogram was always a narrow rectangle of rapid oscillations (λ ~= 25-35 seconds) between NREM stages 1 and 2. Obviously this has caused harm, but it's difficult to isolate how much of that harm (if any) is caused by lack of REM when the dips in oxygen saturation could easily be the causing most of the problems.