Preparing for tomorrow with a quality REM sleep

Although sleep is underrated by most of us, the innumerous health issues related to lack of quality REM sleep remind us of its importance on and off. Despite that, people still keep pushing bedtime off and giving less thought to the vital role it plays. The little favors you are so fond of being the reason to push bedtime off the schedule will not do any good as a good sleep does. It is a proven fact that the impact of significant time spent on the bed on your physical and mental health is much greater.

Agreeably, different aspects of sleep influence our wellbeing largely. General sleep comes in two forms; REM (Rapid eye movement) and Non-REM (Non-Rapid Movement).  REM lets your mind process thoughts based on daily activities and create lasting memories. Non- REM helps your body to recover from rigors.

Slow-wave sleep is a type of non-REM, which lets your mind and body rest with the deepest sleep. Your brain here will signal the waves to slow down letting you gather more energy in sleep. Further, your body will experience a low heartbeat as you breathe deep letting your muscles relax even more.

REM sleep lets your heart rest without much of a real change. This means, your heartbeat and breathing will be as they are when you are awake. During this sleep, your brain will still be very active and as a result, your eyes may move back and forth while you are still asleep. Unbelievably, REM sleep paralyzes your muscles as a protective measure against any actions you may engage in dreams. According to research, even animals tend to experience REM sleep with similar brain activity and muscle paralysis.

What are sleep cycles?

sleep stages

Every night your sleep goes through cycles that last up to 90 minutes each. in each cycle, your sleep will start with a non-REM sleep and ends with REM sleep. Despite the similar lengths of the cycle, the proportion of contribution from each sleep varies depending on the energy you shed during the day and repairing it may have to involve.

Initially, each cycle will experience more non-REM deep sleep that rejuvenates you from within and very little REM sleep. Your body having rested over a period of hours, it will then need less non-REM sleep and more REM sleep towards morning.

According to Denholm Aspy, a dreaming expert, “As the night progresses those REM sleep periods gets longer and longer, and the deep sleep part gets shorter and shorter, so you get most of your REM sleep in the last few hours of sleep, and most of your deep sleep near the start of the night.”

REM sleep assists in the regulation of emotions and memories associated. Your emotions will shortchange in the event you cut your sleep short. It was also revealed by the Psychology department of the University Adelaide that both types of sleep are equally essential and contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of a person.

How does sleep affect our health?

quality REM sleep
health affects sleep

Chronically sleep-deprived people tend to experience more episodes of depression and cardiovascular diseases. People who opt out of getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis are prone to getting sick more often and that can cause both mental and physical related issues sooner or later. Sleep acts as a shield that protects our bodies. The best part of sleep is that our heart and vessels get to rest during our sleep which as a result refreshes our whole body and its programs for tomorrow.

Majority of the world population face hypertension in recent time. But did you know it is mostly the lack of sleep that leads to hypertension? The same goes out for metabolism and glucose. Without sufficient sleep, you could both gain weight and be diagnosed as a diabetic patient. Further, your overall immunity is affected by a good night’s sleep.

What’s more, is that sleep acts as a powerful tool against mood. With less sleep, you will only experience declined mood which can lead to further undesirable results in your performance related to work and personal life. Experts suggest that good REM sleep can fix it all and make you feel better the very next morning with its complex way of handling dreams.

How dreams reveal the best version of you

dreams

With a sound REM sleep regularly, you will be able to identify the better if not for the best version of you. Dreams ideally help you resolve personal and work-related problems. This means visions in your REM sleep will direct you to be more creative and insightful.

Many famous discoveries according to Dr. Arnulf came in dreams. Two such discoveries include Mendeleev and his table of elements and Einstein and the relativity theory. Most scientists too have revealed that the strength behind their discoveries was nothing but a dream. Hasn’t the answer to complex problems as finding a lost key always been better just sleeping on it? It may be the dreams that help us think better.

More unsettling or confusing things in life always get better in waking life simply because sleep and dreams help you process emotions and memories by making sense of everything that you’ve experienced in your hectic day.

Hence dreams work in a complex yet strong manner that ultimately gets you to identify what’s gone wrong and where.

Health problems block REM sleep

quality REM sleep
Health problems block REM sleep

Most of today’s health problems as sleep apnea, insomnia, and other sleeping disorders interfere with a good night’s sleep. These health issues have a significant limitation on sleep each night which leads to a cut back in REM sleep especially in the final hours of your sleep. People with sleeping disorders frequently wake up and this disrupts a healthy sleep resulting in an interruption in the restorative non-REM sleep. This is because their periodical breathing is stopped during sleep due to sleeping disorders. This makes their sleep one that’s non-restorative.

Depression and lack of sleep are thought to have a Chicken and Egg relationship; the more depressed you are lesser the less sleep you get. However, experts believe that it’s actually lack of sleep that leads to apnea and insomnia which ultimately results in depression and anxiety. Antidepressants that are prescribed for health conditions suppress REM sleep and as a result, people are unable to maintain stability in the mood.

 

Getting more REM sleep

quality REM sleep
Getting quality sleep

Naturally, the best way to improve REM sleep is to get the quality sleep that can help in the restoration process. The following methods are a few ways how you can improve your REM sleep.

  • Change your attitude

The main reason behind people being sleep deprived is due to prioritizing little favors as work, socializing and entertainment oversleep. This means people are sleep deprived voluntarily. Try changing your attitude for your own benefit.

 

  • Make time

Try aiming to get that early morning REM sleep by opting not to wake up unnecessarily a minute earlier than you should. This means that you should not trade your sleep time for anything. Make changes to sleep early if required but make no mistake that breaks your REM sleep.

 

  • Avoid sleep aids

Just because you don’t fall asleep, popping a sleeping pill in the mouth isn’t going to get you any far. Of course, it will make amends but it will not give you a real REM sleep. A pill to sleep is replacing one problem for another. Your brain will miss activities like consolidating memories.

In conclusion, getting enough and quality daily sleep is extremely important as it will certainly benefit your overall health and even maybe a remedy for all your health problems.

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