What Is REM Phase And Why Is It Important In Our Sleep Cycle

Sleeping is one of the most important things we naturally do and it’s something that you should never skip out on. Many will argue that it’s even more important than eating and drinking as well. There’s a lot of science behind sleeping and knowing all of these can be the key to helping you sleep better and longer. 

A lot of people think that sleeping is simply about helping your body recuperate. That is true to some extent but that’s not just what it’s about. A good night’s sleep can do more than just make you feel energized and well-rested. How does one get a good night’s sleep?

If you want to get better quality sleep, you should learn more about the science of sleep. The most crucial aspect you need to study of course is REM. You might have heard of the term before but how well do you know about it and its role in making our sleep cycles better.

REM stands for rapid eye movement. As the name itself states, this is a part of your sleep where your eyes will move rapidly in a wide range of directions. Despite the movement, you won’t get any visual information to your brain as you are sleeping. If your eyes don’t move as you sleep, that’s simply called non-REM sleep.

There are many phases of your sleeping pattern. REM usually arrives around 90 minutes after you fall asleep. REM itself features many periods too. The first period will last 10 minutes and as your sleep goes longer, the REM stage becomes longer as well. At the last phase of the REM stage, your heart rate becomes faster as well.

Many other things happen as you reach the REM phase of sleep. For once, since your brain activity is at a high during this phase, you can get more vivid or intense dreams as well. The REM phase also usually dictates that you are in the deepest part of your sleep, thus making your body become better rested.

Knowing your REM cycles is important too as it will help you determine the best times to sleep and wake up. Some people use REM sleep calculator to help them with the process. The results will vary from person to person but if followed well, you can get a better night’s sleep once you know your sleeping patterns more.

The REM phase is one of the most important parts of your sleeping cycle. It’s during this phase that many things naturally occur in your body. While non-REM sleep helps your body rebuild and recuperate, REM sleep focuses more on your brain and what happens to it.

With that in mind, why is REM important in our sleep cycle?

As stated previously, dreams occur during the REM stage of sleep. Throughout the night, the average time you dream is around two hours but for you, it would feel a lot shorter. Your dream is usually broken up into several phases depending on what happens as you sleep.

Without REM, it’s likely that we wouldn’t be able to dream in the first place. The exact benefits of dreaming are unknown but many believe that what we dream of often represents something in our lives. Usually, we dream about the things we care about and the things we are concerned with.

Some experts also believe that dreams help us consolidate our memories as well. The things you dream about are usually the things or people you’ve seen personally. This is why in some cases, you are able to recall some things after dreaming.

Research has also suggested that the REM phase serves an important role in the development of our central nervous system during our infancy. As per the study, it helps in establishing the neural connections and it also serves as the foundation for our thinking and cognitive capacity in the future.

Surprisingly, some research also suggests that reduced REM sleep correlates to weight gain as well. As per studies, reduced REM sleep can change your leptin levels which in turn increases your appetite or your weight. Usually, lower REM means lower quality sleep too and this can affect your body’s metabolism as well.

There have been many studies that revealed that there are links towards poor sleep quality and their effects on weight gain. It’s important that you consider this as well when sleeping.

With this newfound knowledge, you should begin to start supporting your body’s REM phase. The longer your REM phase is, the better it will be for your mind and body. The good news is that it is relatively easy to help support your REM.

For one, you should start sleeping on a schedule. This means going to bed and waking up at the same time daily. This is important as it can help you maximize the quality of your sleep, thus letting you squeeze in more REM each night. It can be difficult to adjust your sleeping patterns at first but with a good REM calculator and alarm clock, it is very doable.

You should also watch your alcohol intake as well. REM cycles can be affected by your alcohol intake because alcohol affects brain activity. It can also affect your sleep cycles as well, thus drinking too much alcohol can cause serious problems with your sleeping habits and sleep quality.

This may sound a bit weird but you should practice remembering your dreams more. This can promote better brain activity and it allows your body to familiarize itself with the process as well. People who lucid dream are usually those that have better REM phases.

Now that you know about REM and its impact on your sleep cycle, you now at least have a better understanding of what happens once you shut your eyes. This is the first step towards getting better sleep and the next step is to begin calculating for the best sleeping and waking times for yourself.