The Four Stages Of Sleep (REM) Rapid Eye Movement

1. Your body goes through 4 stages of sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) is the 4th stage and when you do most of your dreaming. “While you are dreaming, your body undergoes noticeable changes.  Your adrenaline rises, your blood pressure increases, and you heart beats faster. Given this hyperactivity, it should be no surprise how someone with a weak heart can die in their sleep (dreammoods.com).” It usually takes 30-90 minutes to reach REM, a person goes in and out of REM 4-7 times a night. During REM your eyes rapidly move back and forth under the eyelids. Our bodies are completely immobile and muscles are relaxed. You may shift around in your sleep but when in REM you are completely still.

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

There are five phases of sleep in a sleep cycle; phase 1 – light sleep with slow movement of eye which forms 4-5% of total sleep, phase 2 – eye movement stops and brain waves becomes slower which forms 45-55%of total sleep, phase 3 – extremely slow brain waves which comprises 4-6% of total sleep, phase 4 -deep sleep phase with no eye movement or muscle activity which forms 12-15% of total sleep, and phase 5- it is also called REM sleep where breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, and it forms 20-25% of total sleep time (Nichols, 2017).

Sleep can be initiated at any point of the day, as their circadian clock is still in development;

There are distinctive stages of sleep REM sleep and non-REM sleep and about every ninety minutes we cycle through four recognizable sleep stages (Myers D 2014). Non-REM sleep consists for 3 different stages and during each stage it contains its own purpose. Stage one occurs for about 10 minutes and is when a person is lightly sleeping and can be woken up very easily (Mastin 2013). Muscles are still active and movement occurs more frequently such as twitches and the eyes roll around at a slow pace and breathing and heart rates slow down (Mastin 2013). Stage two happens between 45-50 percent of the night at different intervals (Mastin 2013). Muscle activity decreases and it is harder to wake up during this stage; if sounds are heard they are no longer able to make sense of them (Mastin 2013). The last stage: stage three which is also called delta

Usually sleep passes through four stages of sleep and (REM) Rapid Eye Movement sleep. A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 minutes to 110 minutes. The first sleep cycle of sleep are short REM sleeps and long periods of deep sleep.

Fifth Stage REM Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep, while in REM breathing rates, brain activity increases and decreases, and brain waves are faster and smaller. Paradoxical sleep or active sleep refer to REM the reason for this is because brain, body become heightened and muscle movements are restrained but can twitch this is so dreams are not acted out. REM can last for up to fifteen min. From stage one NREM to REM sleep has taken about ninety min. For the rest of the night’s sleep cycle, it bounces between NREM and REM.

There are two distinct phases of human sleep. One phase is non-REM sleep, and the other is REM sleep. Non-REM sleep takes place in the first few hours of sleep at night, and REM sleep takes over the remaining hours allowing us to have dreams. Non-REM sleep is normally referred to as the resting state for our brain. Intense studies have discovered that the brain is less active during the phases of non-REM sleep compared to phases of being awake.

"Sleep disorders appear to be a global epidemic, affecting up to 45% of the world's population" (Noor, et al n.p.). That’s leaving a 55% chunk of the world’s population not affected. More than 70 million people in our nation experience sleep disorders, most of whom are unaware of the impact on their daily life (Wells,Vaughn 234). Due to a large portion of people being unaware of sleep disorders’ impaction, the number continuously increases. Major sleep disorders are known to be Rapid Eye Movement(REM), Insomnia, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA). Over 80 medically recognized sleep disorders exist with insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, jet lag, shift work, sleepwalking and restless legs syndrome being some of the most common (Wells, Vaughn

Non-REM sleep has 4 stages as it is the longest level of sleep. Each stage has certain characteristics and patterns of brain wave activity. REM sleep is a stage associated with dreaming. Motor neurons are inhibited to avoid acting out the responses while actively dreaming. However, the eye muscles are not inhibited for unknown reasons which allow the eyes to move rapidly which explains why it is called REM sleep. Sometimes parts of the brain can be more active and random than when it is awake but it varies with the intensity of the

Sleep consists of many different 90-minute cycles. These cycles are: alpha waves, NREM-1, NREM-2, NREM-3, and REM sleep. The first stage of sleep is known as the alpha waves. Alpha waves are “relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state” (Myers, 2017, p. 55). During the alpha waves stage the person is not yet asleep, but is laying calmly with his or her eyes closed. Eventually the person falls asleep, without being consciously aware of it, and moves into stage two of sleep.

It lasts about 5-10 minutes and one can be very easily awakened from this stage. People have reported dreamlike sensations while in this stage. REM sleep also considered “Rapid Eye Movement” occurs after stage 4 of sleep and is when your brain waves pick up more speed and strength.The stage “REM sleep” gets its name because while during REM sleep your eyes are moving rapidly under your eyelids. In this stage the muscles of the body are relaxed, but the other body systems are active and one’s breathing rate and heart rate increase. The first time in REM sleep lasts about 10 minutes, but as the night goes on the amount of time spent in REM sleep increases and the last stage may reach up to an hour long. REM sleep is when people experience their most vivid dreams. Once out of REM sleep one would start the sleep cycle over again, one typically goes through the cycle 4-6 times and night. These two terms aren't comparable, but they have quite a few differences. For example it is very easy to wake someone up from stage 1 of sleep but when someone is in REM sleep it may be very difficult to wake them up. Another difference is while people might be reporting “dreamlike” sensations during stage 1 of sleep, the vivid dreams that one has during REM sleep are the dreams that you will remember in the morning. While in REM sleep you get what is called restorative sleep, without it one may be extremely tired the next day and they could be irritable and not in a very good mood. On the other hand stage 1 provides you light sleep and starts you on the path to getting restorative

This stage is believed to help people enter deeper stages of sleep (4). Stage 3 sleep consists of 20-50 percent delta activity and stage 4 sleep of more than 50 percents delta activity (4). Stages 3 and 4 are characterized as being slow wave sleep in addition to being the deepest levels of sleep. Approximately 90 minutes after being asleep, people enter rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (4). REM sleep consists of rapid eye movements, a desynchronized EEG, sensitivity to external stimulation, muscle paralysis and dreaming (4).

The third subject that is beneficial to understand sleeping is physiological aspect of sleeping. In spite of there a many theories about neurobiological aspect of dreaming and sleeping, some physiological theories are asserted. In general, theories about sleeping and dreaming try to explain functions, effects to human brain or body and the definition of them. As a definition Edwards reported that Dr. Hobson explained dreaming by using jogging example. All dreams or every parts of a dream are not be remembered by humans but brain understands that dreaming occurs. It is the same while walking, body does not remember each step however knows that it whole exercised (2009, Dreams may have an important physiological function). Last researches about

Starting from the ancient times human was always interested in strange phenomenon of sleeping and especially in dreams. Dreams were described in different ways. For instance, dreams were explained psychologically like images of sub consciousness and feedback of neural processes in human’s brain. Spiritually, it was described like messages of god (C.S. Lewis, nd). Remarkable that not only human have ability to see dreams but several species of animals (Wilkerson R. 2003). For example, rat’s sleep is almost same as the human’s they have multiple stages of sleep starting from slow wave sleep to REM stage of sleep (Animals have complex dreams, 2001). Another fact is that living beings, including humans, have more REM sleep in