The subject of sleep is a very complicated matter and one question which is often asked is, what is rapid eye movement? Otherwise known as REM sleep it is an integral part of your everyday sleeping habit but what does it do, what are the benefits and what are the downsides?
REM sleep
The reason why REM sleep/rapid eye movement sleep attracts its name is because the main characteristic is random movements of the eyes while you are sleeping. The condition was identified and defined in the 1950s and is classified into specific categories which are tonic and phasic.
Stages of sleep
The different stages of sleep vary widely between young children and older adults and are ultimately associated with increased activity by the brains neurons which are very similar to the activity you would experience during waking hours.
Adult sleep
The average adult will have around 20% to 25% of REM sleep per night which equates to around 90 min to 120 min. While REM sleep tends to occur nearer to morning time it is not uncommon to experience between four and five periods of rapid eye movement sleep per night. The ending of this particular type of sleep can often lead to a prolonged period of “light sleeping” which can see some people wake up for no apparent reason.
Young children sleeping patterns
When you consider that adults have between 20% and 25% of total sleep time taken up by REM sleep the situation is very much different for young babies where up to 80% of their regular sleep will be in the REM sleep state. This would indicate that young children’s brains are infinitely more active throughout the day and throughout the night than adult brains as they get older.
What happens during rapid eye movement sleep?
There have been many investigations into sleeping patterns and sleeping states and it appears that certain memory groups are consolidated during REM sleep. These tend to be associated with procedural memory and spatial memory with prolonged rapid eye movement sleeping proving to lead to enhanced memory recollection during the next day.
Interrupting REM sleep
Scientists believe that constant interruption of rapid eye movement sleeping, which many believe is a time in which the brain is said to rest, will lead to the body automatically switching to autopilot and extending REM sleep or rebound sleep. So whatever the situation, whatever your sleeping pattern it seems that your body is more than capable of looking after itself subconsciously.
Sleeping disorders
Sleeping disorders can have a massive impact upon the everyday life of sufferers bringing on depression and other similar conditions. While many of us would like to believe we don’t need as much sleep as we get older, which is very much not the case, we still need a minimum number of hours of REM sleep per night. Many people believe the required minimum sleeping hours is anywhere from five hours to 8 hours per night but it is really down to the quality of sleep and your amount of rapid eye movement resting.
Conclusion
REM sleeping can and does have a major impact upon not only your brainpower but also your mood swings and your alertness. It is actually the quality of your sleep rather than the length of your sleep which is important. This is perhaps why many people claim to be able to live off relatively small but regular sleep breaks with the perception that they are able to fall into REM sleep almost immediately and “rest their brains”.