Deep Sleep vs REM Sleep

Many people have heard about REM sleep. And while REM sleep is a vital component of our sleep cycle, we also have an important stage of sleep called non-REM deep sleep. So what’s the difference? Dear reader, allow me to explain:

Non-REM Deep Sleep: this is our deepest sleep, where our breathing, heart rate, body temperature and brain waves reach their lowest levels. Our muscles become extremely relaxed, and your brain produces very slow-wave Delta waves. It’s difficult to rouse you during this time, and if you are awoken you’ll feel disoriented. While we do dream during this time, we do not remember our dreams from this stage. Scientists believe that this stage of sleep is when tissue growth and repair occur and cellular energy, expended the day before, is restored.  We spend approximately 20% of the night in Non-REM deep sleep.

REM Sleep: Rapid eye movement sleep, or REM, tends to occur every 90 minutes, however the amount of time we spend in REM lengthens as the night progresses. While asleep, your eyes move back and forth very quickly behind your closed eyelids, and your brainwaves looks like you are awake. For this reason, REM sleep is sometimes called “paradoxical sleep.” Your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure elevate to levels that you find when you’re awake. This stage is when you’re most likely to dream, and you will remember your dreams upon awakening, especially the dreams toward the latter part of the night just before your final awakening. During this stage you have hypotonic muscles–or temporary paralysis of the muscles–which prevents you from physically acting out your dreams. Scientists believe this stage of sleep is responsible for memory consolidation. Hence the reason that you shouldn’t pull an all-nighter for a test; instead you should study and then try to get a good night’s sleep. You’ll be better able to recall the information you studied the night before. Typical healthy adults spend approximately 20-25% of our sleep in REM sleep.

Fun fact: each stage of sleep takes approximately 90 to 120 minutes. We need between 4-5 sleep cycles per night, hence the reason for needing 6-9 hours of sleep each night. This is assuming your sleep is healthy and non-fragmented. The average adult sleeps between 7-8 hours each night.

Worried that your sleep cycles are out of balance or you aren’t getting deep, restorative sleep? Never fear, CBT-Insomnia is a powerful treatment that can reset and restore your sleep cycles to healthy levels. Reach out to me today and we can hop on the phone–I’d love to tell you more about it!