| REM Sleep—Stage 5 |
| By Darien Simon |
| After passing through the normal sequence of sleep stages 1 – 4 in nREM sleep [LINK: nREM Sleep—stages 1 – 4], sleepers enter REM sleep, named for the characteristic rapid eye movement that accompanies this stage of sleep. In addition to the rapid eye movement, there are other physiological differences between REM sleep and nREM sleep stages. When you enter REM sleep, your brain waves are mostly theta waves, your heart rate becomes somewhat erratic, your respiration rate and blood pressure increase, and some body muscles, especially in fingers and toes, twitch. In addition, your body’s normal efforts to regulate your temperature stop, as does any sweating or shivering, and your body temperature begins to match the temperature around you. Cerebral (brain) activity also increases, in association with intense and vivid dreaming. To keep you from physically acting out your dream actions, you experience a temporary paralysis of voluntary mucles, especially in legs and arms, called REM atonia. REM atonia has been traced to a complete cessation of the release of certain neurotransmitters, specifically, norepinephrine, serotonin, and histamine. REM sleep is usually of short duration during the first cycle of the night through the sleep stages, starting at about 10 minutes long. However, as you progress through additional cycles of sleep stages, the duration of REM sleep increases to approximately 60 minutes during the last sleep stage sequence of the night. Typically, there are 4 – 5 cycles of sleep stages per night, with nREM sleep stages 3 and 4 decreasing in length as REM sleep increases. But REM sleep doesn’t just change during cycles of sleep in the night. How much time you spend in REM sleep also depends on your age. Infants and young children typically spend most of their sleep time in REM sleep (up to 75 - 80%, even more for premature infants). The percentage of sleep spent in REM sleep versus nREM stages decreases through the rest of your life, however, older adults usually enter their first REM sleep stage earlier in their night’s sleep than younger or middle aged adults, and older adults remain in REM sleep longer during the first sleep cycle. As with nREM sleep, the exact purpose of REM sleep is not yet known [LINK: REM sleep—Possible functions TBW]. However, the lack of sufficient REM sleep does have adverse effects. People who occasionally experience trouble sleeping can be helped to a better quality and greater quantity of sleep by a number of nutrients and herbs, many of which are found in DreamBoost. |
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