Sleep Stages

Then you will move into stage two which includes sleep spindles and K complexes. Sleep spindles are very short bursts of brain activity, and K complexes are single high voltage strikes of brain activity. Also, in stage two delta brain waves start to slow function of the brain preparing for stage three and four. Stage three and stage four i will talk about as one because they are very similar and do similar things. These stages are referred to slow wave sleep because your brain is in it’s slowest speed of function. In stage three you brain is between 20 and 50 percent delta waves, from 50 to 100 percent delta waves you are considered to be in stage four. While in stage four people may experience sleep walking and other muscular movement without knowing so. Noises as loud as 90 decibels may not be able to wake the person from sleep. During REM sleep which is after NREM sleep the brain is more active and alert. This is where most dreams occur because your brain is active but you are still sleeping. After the short 15 minute period of REM sleep you will start over with stage one of NREM these cycles normally take 90 minutes to complete. Activity during sleep can come at any point but is most common in REM or stage four of

Everyone knows what sleep is but do they know what it really is? Sleep by definition is the process in which humans and other animals periodically rest, with greater or lesser degrees of unconsciousness and decreased responsiveness to the surrounding world. With the mentioning of consciousness, it is known that our brain is still active while we sleep and has its own biological rhythm. This rhythm includes four distinct stages that repeat

While experiencing good sleep, I will unconsciously pass through five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM sleep (citation). According to the PL100 text, these stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1, and usually,

These stages are characterized by bursts of electrical activity on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. EEG readings monitor electrical activity representing neuronal activity in specific neurophysiological regions. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is characterized by desynchronized, saw-toothed theta rhythm waves and heightened cognitive activity. Comparatively, high amplitude, synchronous delta waves, and sharp hippocampal waves characterize slow wave sleep (SWS) sleep (stages 3-4 of non-REM sleep) (Tucker et al. 2006).

Researchers have classified two definitive types of sleep, REM, otherwise known as rapid eye movement, and non REM and have divided the sleep cycle into four distinct stages. REM sleep is associated with dreaming as most of our dreams occur during this stage. REM waves are very fast and resemble beta waves which indicate that you are awake. REM sleep is usually

The brain experiences five unique phases during sleep. The fifth stage is REM sleep, which makes up one-fourth of the sleep cycle and begins after 60 minutes of sleep and repeats a few times during the night. REM sleep involves rapid eye movement, relaxed muscles and vivid dreams. During this time, when the body is extremely relaxed, major cell and tissue repair takes place. REM sleep is the ideal time for the immune system to repair the body. However, marijuana affects dreams through harmful sleep disruption.

NREM stage one is the beginning of the sleep cycle. It is known as the transitional stage between being awake and being asleep. During this stage, your brain produces theta waves, theta waves are extremely slow brain waves. This lasts about 5-10 minutes. NREM stage 2 of sleep lasts about 20 minutes. During this stage, the brain produces sleep spindles which are bursts of rapid and rhythmic brain wave activity. This is when everything starts too slows down. NREM stage 3 is when your brain produces delta waves during this stage which are very slow and deep brain waves. This stage lasts about 35-45 minutes. REM sleep is most dreaming occurs during this stage. This stage has rapid eye movement, increased respiration rate, and increased brain activity.

8 REM is the rapid eye movement stage of sleep (Dauvilliers et al.). 9 REM is the last stage of sleep. During REM your eyes try following the dreams actions (Dauvilliers et al.). Neurotransmitters are released during REM (Dauvilliers et

The rate of cerebral blood flow during REM sleep is high in the extrastriate cortex but low in the striate cortex and the prefrontal cortex. This activity reflects a lack of visual in- put in REM (little or no activation in the striate cortex), but the presence of active visual hallucinations during dreaming (activation in the extrastriate cortex). Lack of prefrontal cortex activity likely reflects the lack of organization and planning that occur in dreams. Regional cerebral blood flow during slow-wave sleep is generally decreased throughout the brain compared to waking. However, some researchers have found localized increases

Sleepwalking occurs during stages 3 and 4 of the sleep cycle, the deepest levels of sleep. This slow-wave sleep is normally characterized by synchronized EEG activity (4). This indicates that mental activity is very low during these stages of sleep. However researchers have shown that the EEG of a sleepwalker has diffuse, rhythmic, high-voltage bursts of delta activity associated with abrupt motor activity (1). This is very different from the EEG activity normally associated with slow-wave sleep. In addition to the EEG results, they found that there is a decrease in regional cerebral blood flow in the frontopariental cortices during sleepwalking (1). This indicates that sleepwalking is a dissociated state consisting of motor arousal and persisting mind sleep, which seems to arise from the selective activation of thalamocingulate circuits and the persisting inhibition of other thalamocortical arousal systems (3).

Dreams are very unique and many people have theorized about what a dream 's meaning or purpose is, and what affects them. In most present day studies, more vivid dreams have been linked to the stage of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM dreams are emotional, bizarre, and sometimes so vivid we may confuse them with reality. Most commonly, a dream’s story line incorporates traces of previous day’s experiences and preoccupations. Unless a person is awakened during REM stage of sleep or the dream is exceedingly vivid or intense, most people don’t remember anything about their dreams during REM sleep. This is likely due to the fact that during REM sleep, our brain essentially turns off the ability to encode,or create, new memories.

While "quiet" sleep, a person proceeds through four stages of increasingly deep sleep. Body temperature decreases, muscles relax, and heart rate and breathing slow down. The longest stage of quiet sleep affects physiological changes that help support immune system functioning. The other sleep level, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, is the stage at people dream. Body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing increase to levels estimated during people are attentive. Studies detail that REM sleep enhances learning and memory, and offers to emotional

The brains electrical activity is able to be measured with an electroencephalograph (EEG). The EEG measures your brain activity or brain waves. When you are awake and alert you exhibit beta waves which are small and fast, but immediately before sleep and when you are relaxed and allowing your mind to wander you exhibit alpha waves, and during deep sleep there are large slow waves called delta waves (2). It resulted in major leap in what was known about sleeping. The first phase of modern sleep research is roughly considered to be 1928 through 1953 (1). A lot of new information about sleeping was gained during this time period.

 Sleep is not uniform activity, but one produced of different brain waves throughout the night.

Imagine getting into bed after a hard day of work, your head hits the pillow and you start to drift off. This is stage one of sleeping, similar to daydreaming. Stage one is also the time in which you have