REM sleep is currently known today as one of 6 stages of sleep. It is known as the last stage and the most active of the six. REM stands for (rapid eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is known to be responsible for the most abundant and most vivid dreams. REM sleep occupies a total 1/3 of your sleep on a normal sleeping pattern such as 8 hours a night. The rapid eye movements occuring during this sleep represent a mechanical recapitulation of some or all of the eye movements that the individual has made during the preceding day.
It is a fact that blind people do not experiance REM sleep. Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active. The regular alpha waves of an awake, relaxed state are quite different from the slower, larger delta waves of deep Stage 4 sleep. Although the rapid REM sleep waves resemble the near-waking Stage 1 sleep waves, the body is more aroused during REM sleep than during Stage 1 sleep. The six Stages of sleep are as follows…
Awake, relaxed, Stage 1 sleep, Stage 2 sleep, Stage 3 sleep. Stage 4 sleep, and as we know as most effective and active… REM sleep. There are a few disorders caused by REM sleep that are common yet may not be. It’s very likely you might experiance one of these disorders often.
The most common disorder is the common nightmare. Night mares are vivid, frightening dreams that cause people to wake suddenly with feelings of fear, anxiety, and foreboding. The dream is often recalled vividly, and it’s often difficult to fall back asleep after a nightmare. Children experiance more nightmares than adults. Scary dreams start as early as eighteen months, and increase over time. By age four and five, many children have nightmares as often as once or twice a week.
The Essay on The Architecture of Sleep and the Function of Dreams
Also, while sleeping there are cycles and changes along its course. These cycles are related to changes in brain electrical activity and we don't dream in all of them. We cycle through five sleep stages in about 90 minutes (Rosenzweig, 1992). These cycles are repeated 4-5 times throughout the night. The five sleep stages are: ?Stage 1. Numbness, transition state between sleep and wakefulness. This ...
This is a normal phase in child development, and generally dose not require treatment. Children do however need comfort and reassurance after a nightmare. There is a REM disorder also known as RBD, Rapid eye movement Behavior Disorder. It is a serious REM sleep disorder that can cause injuries.
The body usually experiance a tonia which is a temporary paralysis during dreaming. This is a safety precaution that prevents us from physically acting out our dreams. In RBD, this paralysis is either insufficient or entirely lacking and the affected dreamer may act out exciting or violent dreams.
