Your body relaxes, your muscle tone decreases, and your pulse and breathing slow down dramatically. Stage 3: Deep Sleep (NREM)ĭuring stage three of NREM, you enter deep sleep. During the first cycle, stage two is shorter than it is throughout the second, third, and fourth sleep cycles in a night of sleep.Īround 50% of sleep is spent in stage two. It’s much harder to awake during this stage of sleep. However, the brain has bursts of activity that help the body resist awakening to external factors. Brain activity as a whole slows down during stage two. Your eyes stop moving completely, and brain waves begin to show new patterns. Your muscles become relaxed, your breathing slows, and you enter a more subdued state of sleep. Stage 2: Light Sleep (NREM)ĭuring stage two of non-REM sleep (also known as N2), your heart rate and body temperature decrease. Stage one usually lasts around five minutes, and the brain rarely enters this phase again during a night’s rest. Your eyes produce noticeable movements but don’t rapidly twitch as they do during REM sleep.Īlthough it’s easy to awake during stage one, you can quickly enter stage two if you’re left undisturbed. These brain waves are “twitchy” in a sense, and the sleep is extremely light - your body isn’t fully relaxed, and it’s easy to wake up in this phase. Once you start to drift off, your brain begins to slow down, and low-amplitude mixed-frequency (LAMF) activity replaces the alpha brain waves. The first cycle stage occurs just as you drift off to sleep - this is essentially the stage where you’re “dozing off.” This stage is also known as N1 (non-REM one).Īs you become drowsy, your brain produces alpha waves that help you feel relaxed and enter the first stage of sleep. Let’s take a look at the four stages that make up the sleep cycle and what happens during each one: Stage 1: Light Sleep (NREM) During a typical night of sleep, the average person goes through four to six sleep cycles before waking. These stages were determined by analyzing human brain activity during sleep - each stage shows distinct patterns.Įach complete sleep cycle (stages one to four) varies in length but generally lasts between 90 and 120 minutes. There are four phases in the sleep cycle, and each one is essential in getting a good night’s rest. So, what are the four stages of sleep? What Are the Four Stages of Sleep? Once REM is complete, the brain cycles back through the stages one by one, with the REM phase increasing in length each time. The sleep cycle (stages one to three and REM) takes 90 to 120 minutes to complete fully. It’s the fourth and final stage of the sleep cycle, with three non-REM (NREM) phases preceding it. REM sleep occurs around 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The final period of REM sleep can last for over an hour this is why you may recall having vivid dreams just before waking up.ĭuring REM, your brain waves become more variable, and the areas of the brain that help with learning and protein production are more stimulated.īabies and young children spend around 50% of their sleeping hours in the REM phase of sleep - this is most likely because REM is responsible for early brain development. The first period of REM sleep typically lasts around 10 minutes and gradually gets longer throughout each sleep cycle. Although dreaming does occur during some of the other stages of sleep, they’re much more vivid during REM sleep. This temporary muscle tone reduction is believed to prevent you from acting out your dreams. Your brain and body function similarly to when you’re awake while in REM sleep, except your eyes remain closed, and you have reduced “muscle tone.” Unlike the first three stages of sleep, where your brain slows down significantly, your brain becomes more active during REM sleep. What Happens During the REM Phase of Sleep?īesides the rapid movement of your eyes behind their lids, many other brain functions occur during REM sleep. This article will examine REM sleep, what happens during it, and why it’s so important. They noticed periods of sleep where children’s eyes would move rapidly from side to side and named this phase ‘rapid eye movement’, or REM for short. REM sleep was discovered during the 1950s while scientists studied sleeping patterns. This stage is known to be the phase in which you dream, but it’s responsible for far more than unconscious visions. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, known as active sleep, paradoxical sleep, dream sleep, and desynchronized sleep, is the final stage in the sleep cycle.
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