The Golden Chain

“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” (Thomas Dekker)

There are three phases of non-REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Each stage can last from 5 to 15 minutes. You go through all three phases before reaching REM sleep. During the deep stages of non-REM sleep, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system.

·        Stage 1: Your eyes are closed, but it's easy to wake up. This phase may last for 5 to 10 minutes.

·        Stage 2: You are in light sleep. Your heart rate slows and your body temperature drops. Your body is getting ready for deep sleep.

·        Stages 3: This is the deep sleep stage. It's harder to rouse you during this stage. If someone woke you up, you would feel disoriented for a few minutes.

·        REM Sleep: It happens 90 minutes after you fall asleep. The first stage of REM typically lasts 10 minutes. Each of your later REM stages gets longer, and the final one may last up to an hour. Your heart rate and breathing quickens. You can have intense dreams during REM sleep since your brain is more active. Babies can spend up to 50% of their sleep in the REM stage compared to only about 20% for adults.

Here are seven surprising things you should know about REM sleep:

1.   A rare disorder can cause people to act out their dreams: REM Sleep Behavior Disorder occurs when people act out vivid dreams with vocal sounds and sudden, often violent arm and leg movements as many as four times per night. This is sometimes called dream-enacting behavior. It can become dangerous for a bed partner when the dreams get violent:

Common actions include jumping, flailing, and shouting, kicking, and punching. The onset of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder is often gradual and it can get worse with time. REM Sleep Behavior Disorder may be associated with other neurological conditions, such as Lewy body dementia (also called dementia with Lewy bodies), Parkinson's disease or multiple system atrophy.

2.   Alcohol and drugs mess with your REM: Although alcohol often helps people fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. It can get in the way of REM sleep. A drink or two won’t affect your sleep, but there’s a good chance that more than that will cut into REM time.  This helps explain why you may not feel rested after a night of drinking even if you’ve slept as long as you usually do. Drugs like antidepressants and stimulants can also interfere with REM in both adults and children. 

3.   It can enhance creative problem-solving: If you need to come up with a creative solution, try REM sleeping on it. REM sleep directly enhances creative processing by stimulating brain networks that allow for new and unusual associations between seemingly unrelated ideas. For new problems, only REM sleep enhances creativity.”

4.   Lack of REM sleep is linked with neurodegenerative disorders: Losing out on REM sleep can contribute over time to the development of neurodegenerative diseases Parkinson’s. Scientists have suggested that poor sleep (particularly, not getting enough REM sleep) may contribute to toxic proteins building up in the brain, attacking long-term memory storage and triggering Alzheimer’s disease. 

5.   REM sleep paralyzes you: Your skeletal muscles become paralyzed during a period of REM. Scientists have found that two powerful brain chemical systems work together to cause REM sleep paralysis.  This improved understanding of how muscles become paralyzed during REM sleep may one day help scientists to better treat narcolepsy, tooth-grinding and REM sleep behavior disorder. 

6.   This sleep phase is critical for the developing brain: REM converts daily experiences into long-term memories in a child’s brain, and helps make those experiences stay. These key brain functions are disrupted when a child doesn’t get enough REM sleep. There is a lot of data accumulating that says the amount of sleep a child gets impacts his/her ability to do well in school. We should be cautious about restricting sleep in our children.”

7.   Your eyes are “looking” at something when they move: In a sense, your eyes are “seeing” different things when they’re darting around during REM sleep. It’s likely that a new image forms the mind’s eye every time you move your actual eyes. You may be looking at objects in your dreams.  These eye movements produce something like visual processing during dreaming. 

“Dear Mind, Please stop thinking so much at night. I need to sleep.” (KushandWizdom) [i]

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[i] Sources used:

·        “7 Amazing Things You Probably Didn’t Know About REM Sleep” by Carolyn Gregoire

·        “REM sleep behavior disorder” by Mayo Clinic

·        “What Are REM and Non-REM Sleep?” Reviewed by Sabrina Felson