Pure Sleep - Four Stages of Sleep and REM

While sleep is still something of a mystery, researchers have determined that there are distinct stages of sleep that a person goes through if they get a full night's rest. The exact function behind each is still being studied, but scientists have come up with at least a few reasons behind the stages. When you sleep, your brain goes through 5 different stages of sleep.

Usually, sleepers pass through five stages: 1 - 4  Non-REM sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1. Each stage of sleep exhibits a different brain wave activity and each serves a different purpose.

Non-REM sleep. The brain is quiet, but the body may move around. Hormones are released into the bloodstream and our body repairs itself after the wear and tear of the day.

There are 4 stages of non-REM sleep:

Stage 1

Pre-sleep - the muscles relax, the heart beats slower and body temperature falls.

This state has many names such as daydreaming, zoning out and many others. It is the first step of falling asleep. In this stage, a person is still somewhat aware. Sounds may be enhanced and the awareness is being shifted inwards. During stage 1, sleepers may suddenly feel out of balance as if they were falling, or make jerky movements with their whole body.

This is also the most effective stage of sleep when taking a nap. It allows the brain to rest and replenish without shutting down the body. Most people who sleep normally stay in this stage for five minutes or less, but someone with insomnia might stay for much longer.

Stage 2

Light sleep - we can still be woken easily without feeling confused.

Stage 2 is categorized by sudden bursts of brain activity. This is the period when the body is shutting down. It may be accompanied by the random arm and leg movements. The on-off transition into deeper sleep ensures that the body is in a safe and secure position before completely shuts off.

In this stage, the heartbeat and respiration slow and become very regular. The body relaxes more deeply. Sleepers can still be aroused, but not so easily as when they're in stage 1. Most people spend about 30 minutes on stage 2. Stage 2 accounts for about 50% of all sleep time.

Stage 3

Slow-wave sleep - our blood pressure falls, we may talk in our sleep or sleepwalk.

This is known as deep sleep and is very hard to rise from. During deep sleep, blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate are at their lowest of the day. Blood vessels are fully dilated and blood is allowed to flow to areas that are normally turned off. Muscles are able to be nourished and repaired.

Stage 4

Deep "slow-wave" sleep - we become very hard to wake.

Stage 4 is categorized by the deepest, most restorative sleep and if awoken from may result in grogginess. This is when the body has completely shut down and is rejuvenating.

During a normal night, sleep stage 4 which is for really deep replenishment of the body, is only reached during the first few cycles of sleep. It may even never be reached if the body is kept inactive.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. It comes and goes throughout the night, and makes up about one-fifth of our sleep time. During REM sleep, our brain is very active, our muscles are very relaxed, our eyes move quickly from side to side and we dream.

Stage 5

REM sleep is the most fascinating stage of sleep and is associated with dreaming. Scientists still do not know what true purpose it serves and there is much debate about it. The most credible explanation given so far is that it allows our brains to go through the daily experiences and process what was learned.

During REM sleep, your eyes move rapidly back and forth under closed eyelids. Here, the person is temporarily paralyzed, apparently Mother Nature's safeguard to prevent the physical acting out of dreams.

REM sleep accounts for about 20-25% of total sleep time in a normal adult.

Sleep Cycles

During sleep, the brain cycles from sleep stage 1 to sleep stage 5 numerous times. Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes.

Early in the night, the brain spends more time in sleep cycles 3 & 4 and proceeds to spend more and more time in REM sleep.

In order for our sleep to be effective, we must have enough time to allow for several cycles of Non-REM and REM sleep. If we miss out on any of these stages of sleep then our sleep is less restful. When considering how to get a good night's sleep it is important to look at lifestyle, diet, exercise and other factors that affect our sleep.

You can also read this blog Cure for Insomnia

Know Illustrations of What Anxiety Really Feels Like

“Chronic anxiety is messy and unpredictable, overpowering and insidious, physical and mental, and at times so unexpectedly debilitating I’m unable to speak or think clearly or even move.”

For people who live with chronic anxiety, it can be difficult to explain to others what it really feels like.

Many people I've talked to think anxiety is a state of being worried or stressed about something, such as school exams, relationship problems, or major life changes such as switching careers or moving to a new city.

They thought it was the root cause of worry with direct - and if you fix the root cause, you will not be worried anymore.

Here are four illustrations showing what anxiety really feels like.

1. Like a knife stabbing you in the chest with every breath you take

It may sound like an exaggeration, but the anxiety can manifest itself with intense physical symptoms, such as chest pain that is sharp.

It is the most intense chest pain I have ever tasted. With every breath I take, it feels like a sharp point of a knife being pressed inside my chest. Sometimes it lasts for minutes - sometimes lasting for hours or even days.

Other physical symptoms that I have experienced, including heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and shortness constantly in my shoulder.

At first, I thought it was related to the shortness of sitting at the table and typing all day. But I finally realized tightness will come and go depending on how anxious I was feeling.

I even had full-on anxiety caused panic attacks that I have really sure I was having a heart attack. It culminated in a trip by ambulance to the ER and tightness in my arm that causes intense feelings of pins and needles, which lasted for 2 hours until I finally quiet.

None of this sounds like just worried about something, does it?

2. As rain clouds speak negatively follow your every move

One of the defining characteristics of anxiety for me is the self-assessment. A rough, tough, stubborn voice spewing an endless stream of negative. As my mind caught in this loop, it is difficult to get out of it. Really tough.

It can hit me so strongly and suddenly I feel trapped under the weight.

I know what you're thinking you: change your thoughts to something positive and you'll be fine. I've tried, believe me. It just does not work for me.

There are some things that, after a lot of practice and patience, helped me get out of this cycle, though.

The first step is to recognize that negative talk even happens. Because when you're stuck in this loop for days, you can forget it's even there.

Then I set aside time to focus on my thoughts and feelings without interruption. deep breathing techniques - such as 4-7-8 - help to calm the negative thoughts to the point where I can come up for air and think about what really happened.

Another technique that helps is journaling. Just get my mind - negative or negative - to the page is a form of release, which can help break the cycle.

While positive thinking does not work for me, the positive reality-based thinking has.

Think about the difference this way: Positive thinking may change my mind for abstract ideas such as being happy and excited and have imaginary things like falling in love happens to me; reality-based thinking positively turns my mind to the real things I've experienced, like a thoughtful birthday gift my brother gave me a feeling of satisfaction I get from my career, and the songs I wrote over the weekend.

3. As a con man hijacked your normal self

At the point when I'm feeling restless, I frequently feel my ordinary self has been supplanted by a sly impostor. Somebody who looks just you, however, acts like another person totally — generally, a ton of clear gazes and squirming and hardly any fascinating to state.

Where did I go? I ask myself in these minutes.

It has an out-of-body quality to it. I'm viewing the impostor all things considered, weak to fend him off and show everybody the genuine me.

Tension hosts chose to toss a get-together, and the impostor was the main individual welcomed. How discourteous, my ordinary self thinks.

There's a disappointing feebleness at the times, where regardless of how hard I attempt, I can't call me.

I know when this occurs, my nervousness has kicked into all-out assault mode and I have to give myself existence to assemble my musings and plunge into my instrument sack — profound breathing, establishing methods, journaling, treatment, work out, rest cleanliness, and eating admirably.

On the off chance that I have the vitality, I additionally endeavor to chat with individuals I trust, or spend time with a dear companion and let their accounts and issues consume my brain for a minute.

In the long run, my typical self consistently returns, pushing the impostor far out. At any rate for some time, at any rate.

4. Like a blast in your cerebrum, sending your considerations spiraling wild 

I was enticed to depict uneasiness as a mind haze that mists my contemplations, yet a blast in the cerebrum appeared to be increasingly precise to me.

Nervousness can hit my mind with such power that it crushes my considerations into dissipated bits of shrapnel taking off every which way. What's left is a void, a hole of vacancy.

Have you at any point collaborated with somebody you thought could be in a nervousness assault, and seen a vague look in their eyes, or a general absence of responsiveness? I'm willing to wager they'd love to give you a legitimate answer to your inquiry, yet at that time their brain is a cavity with nothing to give.

Musings can feel so distant that I evade social connections totally, to save others from interfacing with the vacancy of my uneasiness cerebrum. Now and then I get truly disappointed by this. In any case, the more I battle against it, the more solidified my contemplations become.

So how would I unfreeze myself? There's no simple answer, tragically. It's a short time, tolerance, and giving myself space to loosen up and reflect and return to a base degree of power over my psyche and body.

Having my nervousness apparatus sack convenient, a specialist who can give me a point of view on my musings, and a couple of confided in individuals to chat with all assist me with recapturing that control.

I trust these delineations have given you more knowledge into what existence with incessant nervousness truly feels like. It's very different than being a little stressed over something. On occasion, it's deadening.