REMembering SLEEP

There are two types of sleep: REM and non-REM.

For the first 90 minutes of your sleep, you experience non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep. Here you drift from consciousness to total unconsciousness. REM sleep then follows. This is the dreaming stage.

The NREM-REM cycle is repeated six to 10 times throughout the night.

Do you know that:

• bed wetting, snoring, sleepwalking, and night terrors occur during stage IV or NREM sleep?
• NREM sleep relaxes the body, while REM sleep relaxes the mind?
• when you wake up in the middle of a REM sleep, you will remember your dream, but when you wake up during NREM sleep, you won't even know you dreamed?
• lack of REM sleep is more upsetting than lack of NREM sleep?

In a study conducted by N.R. Culler and H.B. Cohen, people who had been deprived of REM sleep for days became less well-integrated and effective. They also became confused and suspicious of other people. Thus, they withdrew from society. Moreover, sleep-deprived individuals appear anxious, insecure, irritable, and have a marked increase in appetite, leading to weight gain.

SOURCE: "A Healthy Rest"