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Your eye movement slows and your muscles relax. This is the stage between wakefulness and sleep. Most people spend around 50 to 60% of their sleep time in NREM stages N2 and N3. These are sometimes referred to as light sleep, moderate sleep, and deep sleep. NREM sleep can be further broken down into three stages: N1, N2, and N3. Humans move through different stages of both NREM and REM sleep several times throughout the night, with REM sleep becoming longer as the night goes on. Sleep cycles are usually made up of NREM and REM sleep. We’ve touched on sleep cycles a bit, and in this section, we’ll talk more about them. At the beginning of the night, REM stages last around 10 minutes and can increase to up to an hour. You’ll usually hit your first period of REM sleep 90 minutes into the night, after passing through the first NREM (non-REM sleep) stages. It also helps regulate our mood when we’re awake. Most muscles also become temporarily paralyzed to prevent you from acting out dreams and accidentally hurting yourself (thank you, evolution).Īs we’ve mentioned, REM sleep not only helps us dream but strengthens our emotional processing, creativity, memory consolidation, and brain development. Brain activity, heart rate, and breathing quicken.

During this stage, eyes move rapidly behind eyelids (hence the name rapid eye movement). What is REM Sleep? Rapid eye movement sleep is the most active of the four sleep stages we cycle through every night, which is why you may also hear it referred to as “paradoxical” sleep. We’re diving into the REM sleeping stage to uncover why it’s so important to your overall health and what you can do to make sure you’re spending enough time in REM. Another 43% of men and 55% of women in Canada aged 18 to 64 say they have trouble going to sleep and staying asleep. You’ve probably heard of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as the time of the night when you dream, but REM is also the stage of sleep that can improve your memory, learning skills, and mood.Īnd even though healthy adults only spend about 20 to 25% of their total sleep time in REM, it’s a key factor in helping you feel alert and well-rested for the next day.ģ1% of Canadians report not getting enough sleep. That’s why we’re diving into a crucial part of your sleep cycle - REM sleep.

From sleep hygiene before bedtime to the various stages of sleep we cycle through each night, it can be overwhelming to pinpoint strategies you can use to improve your sleep.
