REM sleep occurs when your eyes move quickly behind closed eyelids (hence its name), and brain waves that resemble those of a conscious individual become apparent. Breathing and heart rate speed up as muscles temporarily paralyze during dreaming.
Adequate Restful Eye Movement (REM) sleep is key for feeling refreshed on awakening, but factors that could reduce or increase its frequency include age, recent sleep patterns and medications taken.
What is REM sleep?
In the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of sleep, your eyes move rapidly back and forth behind closed lids (hence its name), creating an ideal conditions for dreaming. Brain activity also mimics that of being awake, increasing breathing and heart rates significantly, with part of your brain sending signals to immobilize muscles so they cannot act out your dreams.
Sleep is essential to our well-being, helping us concentrate, perform better in work and school, reduce stress and strengthen immunity – not to mention keep memory sharp! Scientists still don’t fully understand why REM sleep is necessary but believe it plays a critical role in maintaining normal brain function and body health.
Every night, most people enter REM sleep within the first few minutes, with time spent there gradually increasing throughout the night – often up to an hour in total! Your individual sleeping pattern and cycle is unique.
Healthy adults typically spend at least one and a half hours each night in Rapid Eye Movement (REM), the most critical sleep stage. Without enough REM sleep, individuals may become irritable or experience fatigue during the day; have trouble learning new information; or experience high blood pressure, heart ailments and diabetes as a result.
REM sleep cycle
Your body and mind move through REM and non-REM cycles approximately every 90 minutes during an average night of rest. In these cycles, eyes dart around as brain activity approaches wakefulness – often associated with dreaming. Additionally, during REM sleep your heart rate and breathing rate increase but muscles become limp to prevent you from acting out any dreams that might surface in this stage.
Your amount of REM sleep plays an integral part in your overall quality of restful slumber, with ideal outcomes being 20-25% of total sleeping time spent in this stage of restful slumber. Sleep during this stage allows new learnings to stick in long-term memory – for instance if you worked on technical skills during the day that need retaining overnight, enough REM will ensure these lessons remain with you, improving performance during training sessions the following day.
The duration of each stage varies with your age, with children spending more of their sleeping time in REM than adults. Sleep cycles may also be interrupted if irregularity exists in sleeping patterns or an unexpected alarm clock wakes you during the night, potentially keeping you from entering REM phase and entering restful slumber.
REM rebound
Normal sleeping cycles involve multiple cycles throughout the night, experiencing various REM periods at various points. When laid out on a diagram, these stages resemble city skylines forming what’s known as “pattern sleep architecture.” But individual cycles may change from night to night depending on energy requirements of their bodies.
An ideal night of restful sleep generally comprises four to five cycles and should include around 90 minutes of REM sleep. Ample amounts of this restorative rest can help us feel more energetic and improve our mood; however, as we age the amount of REM sleep we experience may decrease significantly; too little REM can result in physical and mental symptoms including impaired memory retention, poor mood regulation, increased migraine risk and an increased risk of obesity.
Stress, medical conditions such as sleep apnea and recreational drugs like cocaine and marijuana can all impact REM sleep; when these substances are discontinued their effects reverse and REM sleep tends to increase again.
Get more REM sleep by improving overall sleep hygiene and eliminating disruptive behaviors and factors, such as alcohol before bed. Good sleeping habits, such as staying away from alcohol before sleeping and making sure to get seven-to-nine hours of restful restful rest every night will all lead to increased REM rest.
REM sleep behavior disorder
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) is characterized by aggressive or violent dream-related behavior that ranges from benign hand gestures to punching, kicking and even jumping out of bed, often with vocalizations such as talking or screaming. RBD can lead to sleep-related injuries for patients as well as their bed partners.
Though physical symptoms of RBD vary depending on each person, all episodes are initiated by dreams that show people reacting defensively or acting out their frustrations in violent or sexual ways. Dreams with RBD tend to be easily awakened from sleep; furthermore, people usually remember what was in their dream when they awaken! Unlike with other parasomnias, however.
RBD occurs when specific neural pathways that normally inhibit muscle movement during REM sleep become disrupted, leading to decreased muscle atonia. Risk factors for RBD include obstructive sleep apnea, sleep deprivation, smoking and head injuries – among others. It may also occur among people taking certain medications like antidepressants and sedatives.
Doctors typically perform a physical exam and speak to patients about their sleeping habits to diagnose this disorder. A sleep study, wherein participants sleep in a laboratory equipped with monitors that measure heart rate, brain activity, limb movements and breathing, may also be performed to collect data about any potential causes for their disturbances such as medication side effects or mental health conditions.
