Sleep Cycle - What's That About?

When we think of sleep, we think of the process whereby we close our eyes, sleep, and then wake up again. But scientists have discovered that there is more to getting a good night’s sleep than just that simple process. They have postulated that there are five sleep stages in a good night’s sleep. These sleep stages are essential for optimum benefit from sleep. In order to make full use of the hours to which we devote to sleep, we need to go through these five stages. These sleep stages can be noted as follows: the waking stage, the resting stage, two stages of deep sleep, and then the second waking stage.The first sleep stage, the waking stage, is where the person is just about to fall asleep.  With this stage, the body is beginning to relax form all of the stresses and strains of the day. The muscles slowly begin to relax, getting rid of all the tension from the day. The eyes begin to move, fluttering and relaxing, usually going back up into the head, as the body slows down more and becomes more relaxed. Breathing will begin to become shallower. The next sleep stage is the relaxing, or resting, stage. During this stage the person’s body temperature would lower, and the body becomes even more relaxed. At this stage, the heart rate will also become more relaxed, and the person is ready to enter a deeper sleep stage. There are two periods of deep sleep. The first period of deep sleep stage, also called the REM stage, is where dreaming takes place. REM stands for “rapid eye movement” and is characterized by fluttering eyes, which is what occurs during this period of sleep and dreaming. During the REM stage, involuntary movements of the facial muscles can occur, while the subject is dreaming. The next stage is a deeper stage of REM. The fifth sleep stage then is when the body begins to wake up from sleep, and the heart rate increases, the muscles become more active, and the brain comes away from its hyperactive dream state and into its normal mode of functioning.