Sleep spindles are unique to NREM sleep. The most spindle activity occurs at the beginning and the end of NREM. Sleep spindles involve activation in the brain in the areas of the thalamus, anterior cingulate and insular cortices, and the superior temporal gyri. They have different lengths. There are slow spindles in the range of 11 – 13 Hz that are associated with increased activity in the superior frontal gyrus, and fast spindles in the range of 13 – 15 Hz that are associated with recruitment of sensorimotor processing cortical regions, as well as recruitment of the mesial frontal cortex and hippocampus. There is no clear answer as to what these sleep spindles mean, but ongoing research hopes to illuminate their function.

K-complexes are single long delta waves that last for only a second. They are also unique to NREM sleep. They appear spontaneously across the early stages, usually in the second stage, much like the sleep spindles. However, unlike sleep spindles, they can be voluntarily induced by transient noises such as a knock at the door. The function of these K-complexes is unknown and further research needs to be conducted.

Although study participants' reports of intense dream vividness during REM sleep and increased recollection of dreams occurring during that phase suggest that dreaming most commonly occurs during that stage, dreaming can also occur during NREM sleep, in which dreams tend to be more mundane in comparison. It was initially thought that NREM sleep is the absence of dreaming, or dreams occur more rarely compared to REM sleep because 90–95% of those who wake up in the middle of REM sleep will report that they have had a dream, but only 5–10% of those waking up in the middle of non-REM sleep will report they've had a dream. However, when asked for more general thought processes or feelings, 70% of people who awaken from NREM sleep reports of having dream-like feelings, which is characteristic of NREM dreams, potentially disproving that theory.

Research has also shown that dreams during the NREM stage most commonly occur during the morning hours which is also the time period with the highest occurrence of REM sleep. This was found through a study involving subjects taking naps over specific intervals of time and being forcefully awakened, their sleep was separated into naps including only REM sleep and only NREM sleep using polysomnography. This implies that the polysomnographic occurrence of REM sleep is not required for dreaming. Rather, the actual mechanisms that create REM sleep cause changes to one's sleep experience. Through these changes, by morning, a sub-cortical activation occurs during NREM that is comparable to the type that occurs during REM. It is this sub-cortical activation that results in dreaming during the NREM stage during the morning hours.
It is suggested that dreaming involves two selfs: aggressive self (REM) and friendly self (NREM). It seems that in NREM dreams, the self is put in different situations, largely negative, but is found to respond in a way that befriends or embraces the unfamiliar. It is sometimes thought that in NREM sleep, the dreamers are "aware of being aware", also known as "secondary awareness", which allows them to make better decisions and potentially reflect on them.

During non-REM sleep, the tonic drive to most respiratory muscles of the upper airway is inhibited. This has two consequences:
199 The upper airway becomes more floppy.
299 The rhythmic innervation results in weaker muscle contractions because the intracellular calcium levels are lowered, as the removal of tonic innervation hyperpolarizes motoneurons, and consequently, muscle cells.
However, because the diaphragm is largely driven by the autonomous system, it is relatively spared of non-REM inhibition. As such, the suction pressures it generates stay the same. This narrows the upper airway during sleep, increasing resistance and making airflow through the upper airway turbulent and noisy. For example, one way to determine whether a person is sleeping is to listen to their breathing - once the person falls asleep, their breathing becomes noticeably louder. Not surprisingly, the increased tendency of the upper airway to collapse during breathing in sleep can lead to snoring, a vibration of the tissues in the upper airway. This problem is exacerbated in overweight people when sleeping on the back, as extra fat tissue may weigh down on the airway, closing it. This can lead to sleep apnea.