Hypnogram wake cycle8/23/2023 They are lined up like this (blue – light sleep, orange – deep sleep, red – REM): Sleep stages don’t occur in a simple 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 sequence. Sleep cycles are sequences of sleep stages Interestingly enough, our eyes are not hindered. This may be a mechanism which protects us from getting hurt by shutting down muscles so that they can’t move along with the dreams. The brain processes the information from the day before to store it in the long-term memoryĪnother term for REM sleep is paradoxical sleep because even though brain activity is on the high, muscles remain paralyzed.Eyes move rapidly, probably following the dream scenarios.Breathing becomes irregular and shallow.Brain waves are similar to those during wakefulness.Brain activity increases, muscles remain relaxed.Very young children spend more time in REM sleep than adults. Rapid eye movement sleep occurs after about 90 minutes of sleeping the first REM lasts for about 10 minutes whereas it gets longer in the second half of the night. Stage 4, or the final stage of a sleep cycle is the REM stage. Certain drugs, alcohol, excessive stress, aging or sleep apnea can prevent us from reaching deep sleep.If woken up from this stage, a person may feel sluggish and disoriented.It is believed that this stage is responsible for psychological refreshment, preparing the brain for new learning.Human growth hormone is released, promoting cell repair and body restoration.This stage begins about 35-45 minutes after falling asleep. N3 stage is known to be a phase of restorative sleep. It is very difficult to wake up a person from the deep sleep. N3 stage of NREM sleep is also known as delta sleep – the name comes after the type of waves the brain emits. This used to be separated into Stages 3 and 4, but has recently been merged into one stage. People spend about 50% of their total sleep time in this sleep phaseĭeep sleep equals Stage 3 (N3).The brain produces waves of high-frequency bursts known as sleep spindles.Sleepers in this stage are harder to wake up. Stage 2 is also a light sleep stage – however, it prepares our body for deeper stages of sleep and lasts up to 20 minutes. The brain produces alpha and theta waves.The feeling of falling down and waking up suddenly – the hypnic jerk.Heart rate becomes regular, blood pressure drops.This stage lasts between 1 and 10 minutes. People will usually deny being asleep if woken up from this stage, as they are still aware of their surroundings. It is very easy to wake up from Stage 1 sleep because it is the closest stage to being awake. As they occur during NREM sleep, they are also called N1 and N2. The two stages of light sleep are Stage 1 and Stage 2.
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