REM sleep: What is it, Duration and Characteristics

Sleep is a concept that refers to both the act and the desire to sleep. It is a normal and recurrent state, in which there is not a total lack of activity, but rather the ability to perceive and respond to external stimuli decreases. If you want to know the different types of sleep and, especially, REM sleep, keep reading this article from Psychology-Online: REM sleep: what is it, duration and characteristics.

Index

1. Types of dreams
2. NREM dream
3. REM sleep
4. Waking up in REM phase
5. REM sleep disorder

There are two types of sleep, named REM and NREM sleep. The fact that this division exists in two types of sleepIt does not imply that one dream excludes the other, but rather that both coexist, each one appearing in a different temporal part of the dream as a whole. Next, we will see what REM and NREM sleep are, their characteristics and phases.

Regarding the types of dreams, first of all, we find the NREM dream (from English:

Stage 1: drowsiness

It has an approximate duration of ten minutes and is characterized by being the stage in which drowsiness appears or numbness. In this stage, the presence of muscle tone takes place but there is no presence of eye movements (or they are very slow). In addition, in this stage there is a disappearance of the encephalographic rhythm typical of the waking and alert state, exactly, it is about the transition between wakefulness and sleep.

Stage 2: light sleep

In this stage light sleep predominates and its duration is approximately 50 minutes. It is characterized by a greater decrease in the EEG rhythm mentioned above, a decreased heart rate and breathing rate, muscle tone is still present and there are no movements eyepieces. In addition, the K complexes, which are sharp waves that appear so that the person does not wake up. It is at this stage when the brain shows difficulties to be in contact with the body and, therefore, sometimes the brain sends some impulse to ensure its connection and normal functioning with the body, so that normally people react to this impulse with a sudden movement.

Stage 3: transition

When we enter the third stage is when we begin to go from light sleep to deep sleep, you could say that it is a transition stage from light to deep sleep, with an approximate duration of between 2 and 3 minutes.

Stage 4: deep sleep

This stage lasts for 25 minutes approximately and there is a predominance of deep sleep. The EEG rhythm decreases even more, there is still no eye movement, and muscle tone may decrease excessively or remain, depending on the situation. At this stage, people can perform body movements such as changing posture or tossing and turning in bed. In addition, since it is a deep sleep, as its name shows, people have more difficulty waking up and, at this stage, they do not usually have dreams. It is important to note that in order to detect whether a person has a good or bad quality of sleep we must focus on this stage, since it is the stage that will allow us to determine it.

The second of the types of dreams is REM sleep (from the English: rapid eyes movement) or MOR (from Spanish: rapid eye movements), and also called paradoxical dreaming. What is REM sleep? REM sleep is the type of sleep that appears after the previous stages, that is, after having spent approximately 90 minutes of sleep.

REM sleep: characteristics

During the REM sleep phase, as its name suggests, rapid eye movements are appreciated and, in addition, there is the presence of a EEG activity reminiscent of the waking state, that is, in this phase the brain shows an activity similar to that of waking and, therefore, is when dreams appear and where we capture more information about the environment and everything that surrounds us. So it turns out easier to wake up to people when they are in REM sleep.

REM sleep: duration

It should be noted that the waking time increases as time passes, so that with age you sleep less and, therefore, there is a decrease in the duration of REM sleep. It is estimated that in total, in a young / adult person, normal sleep function is divided into about 6 hours of NREM sleep and about 2 hours approximately of REM sleep.

The REM sleep phase is the one that most closely resembles or is closer to the waking state, therefore, it is usual that when people wake up during this phase they show more alert than in other phases, in which it would probably be shown that they are in confusional states and with a possible rapid return to sleep.

In this sense, if the person is awakened in REM sleep, this will be able to remember and explain in detail as much information as possible about their dreams or your nightmares. It is interesting to differentiate the nightmares of the night terrorsSince the content of nightmares can be remembered due to their predominant appearance in the REM phase, on the other hand, the content of nightmares Night terrors are impossible or very difficult for the person to remember due to their appearance in the NREM phase, specifically in stages 3 and 4.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a REM sleep behavior disorder can be diagnosed when:

• They are repeated episodes of waking up during sleep associated with vocalization and / or complex motor behaviors.
• When these behaviors occur during REM sleep and therefore usually appear approximately 90 minutes after onset of sleep, are more frequent during the later parts of the sleep period and rarely occur during daytime naps.
• When the person wakes up from these episodes, they are fully awake, alert, and not confused or disoriented.
• If one or the other of the following characteristics occurs: 1) REM sleep without atony, understanding atony as the disappearance of muscle tone. 2) Background that suggests that there is the presence of a REM sleep behavior disorder and a diagnosis of synucleinopathy (diseases related to alterations in synucleins, which is a family of proteins of the nervous system).
• When these behaviors cause a clinically significant discomfort or a deterioration in the social, labor or other important areas of functioning.
• If the REM sleep disturbance cannot be explained by physiological effects of a substance or other medical condition (medication, drug, etc.).
• When mental and / or medical disorders already diagnosed cannot explain the appearance of these episodes.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to REM sleep: what is it, duration and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of Basic psychology.

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• American Psychiatric Association. (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. DSM 5. 5th Edition. USA: Pan-American
• Velayos, J.L., Moleres, F.J., Irujo, A.M, Yllanes, D., and Paternain, B. (2007). Anatomical bases of sleep. Annuals of the Navarra Health System, 30 (1), 7-17.