Sleep is the one thing everyone has to do, some people love it while others hate it! How can people hate sleep? Well who has time to sleep when there’s just so much to do? Welcome to peoples outlook on the snooze button. Sleep is just one on the many tasks some individuals do not look forward to.
Sleeping Lesson
There are 2 different types of sleep:
- REM (Rapid eye movement) 4 or 5 cycles per night
- NREM (Non-rapid eye movement) More on this tomorrow
The difference is this:
When we first fall to sleep we all usually begin with NREM sleep. This goes for about 80 minutes then we go into the REM sleep cycle, which is my favorite, Since this is when we are most likely to go into a dream state!
REM facts
- The first REM cycle lasts for at least 10 minutes and begin to get longer throughout the night.
- REM sleep ranges 20-25% of our sleeping patterns.
- Averages about 90-120 minutes per night. ARTICLE
- Plays a key role in memory, learning and replenishing our neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine.
- We dream mostly in our REM cycles. Studies show our dreams average about two hours of our total sleep. But there’s a big possiblility we dream throughout the whole night and just don’t remember anything.
- REM dreams are characterized by bizarre plots.
- Sleeping tablets suppress REM sleep, which is harmful over a long period of time.
Fun facts
- 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%
- Adults sleeping 6 hours or less is just as bad as 9 hours or more of sleep.
- Teenagers should sleep 9 hours and younger children require 10 hours of sleep.
- If you live to be 75 years old the average person slept 20-25 years of their life.
- People can cat nap with their eyes open without even knowing it.
Why is REM called REM?
If you watch someone sleep, their eyes are in a constant motion rapidly moving around in different directions. This is because the eyes gaze towards the event, person or action that’s occurring in the dream. ARTICLE Talk about living in a virtual reality video game!
I believe every one’s body is different and some people can actually function without much sleep, but proper sleep is essential to retain youth, energy, health and basically keep you in a good mood!