Sleep_Disorders

One of the most pervasive misconceptions about sleep is that sleep is just a matter of our bodies "turning off" for several hours, followed by our bodies "turning back on" when we awake. In short most of us think of sleep as a passive and relatively constant and unchanging process. In fact, sleep is a very active state. Our bodies move frequently, as we roll about during the night, and, more importantly to the psychologist, our brain activity is even more varied than it is during the normal waking state. There are five stages of sleep stages 1,2,3,4, and REM. While you sleep you cycle through these five stages beginning with stage 1 and go through each stage until reaching REM sleep. A sleep cycle is approximately ninety to one hundred and ten minutes long below I will be discussing how your body and brain reacts to each cycle. Stage 1 sleep is experienced as falling to sleep and is a transition stage between wake and sleep. Stage one sleep usually lasts between one and five minutes, and this stage is dramatically increased in some insomnia disorders that produce frequent arousals. During this stage you can be easily awoken, experience jerky movements of your muscles. Stage 2 of sleep follows stage 1 sleep and is the baseline for sleep. You spend around fifty percent of sleep in stage two. Eye movement stops during this stage of sleep and your brain waves become slower. Stage 3 and Stage 4 of sleep. Stage 3 of sleep is the first stage of deep sleep. The brain waves are a combination of slow waves, known as delta waves, and delta sleep is known as the deepest stage of sleep. Delta sleep is achieved during stage 3 and stage 4 of sleep. Stage four is the second stage of deep sleep .If you are awakened during delta sleep you may feel groggy and disoriented for a few minutes. Delta sleep occupies up to forty percent of children’s sleep which makes them almost unworkable during most of the night. When a person is sleep deprived it is delta sleep they need/crave first and foremost. If stage three and or stage four of sleep is to short you may not feel sleep satisfied. REM is the fifth stage of sleep is a very active stage of sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement sleep because if you watch a person during this stage of sleep their eyes are moving rapidly about. Dreaming occurs during this stage of sleep. Breathing, heart rate, and brain wave activity quicken. REM sleep begins about eight minutes after you fall asleep. The first sleep cycle has a shorter phase of REM sleep, but toward morning the time spent in REM sleep increases and the deep sleep stages decreases. Researchers do not fully understand REM sleep, but they know it’s important in the creation of long-term memories.