Everything you need to know about REM sleep

Before we tell you more about REM sleep, let us take you back to the five sleep stages that your sleep cycle contains. You go through your sleep cycle on average four to six times each night. A cycle can last 90 to 120 minutes.

Sleep stage 1: falling asleep phase

The first stage is called the falling asleep phase. During this phase, you float for a few minutes between being awake and asleep. Brain activity decreases in this phase.

Sleep stage 2: light sleep

Then the light sleep phase begins. And as the name suggests, you are not yet sleeping deeply in this phase, but you no longer wake up from small sounds. This sleep phase lasts just under an hour.

Sleep stage 3: transition phase

After light sleep, you enter the transition phase. In this phase, you sleep more soundly. Your breathing becomes regular, your heart rate drops, and your body relaxes. This phase lasts about five minutes.

Sleep stage 4: deep sleep

Do you enter your deep sleep? Then you will be there for about 20 minutes. This is actually the most important phase because you rest well here. Your deep sleep is also called delta sleep or slow-wave sleep. During a deep sleep phase, your body recovers optimally and you build up energy for the next day.

Sleep stage 5: REM sleep

REM sleep follows deep sleep and is also called dream sleep because you dream a lot in this phase. Your heart rate and breathing are irregular, your muscles are completely relaxed, and your blood pressure rises. During REM sleep, information is processed and part of our experiences is stored in our long-term memory.

During REM sleep, the experiences you had during the day are played back like a kind of film in your brain. This makes your brain very active and your eyes move quickly back and forth while your eyelids are closed. This is where the name REM sleep comes from. REM stands for ‘Rapid Eye Movements’.

Besides your eyes making many movements in this phase, your heart also beats faster and your blood pressure rises, but your muscles are completely paralyzed.

REM sleep is not without reason one of the most essential sleep stages. During your dream sleep, you process emotional events and important information is stored in your memory. This increases your brain capacity. This creates space for new experiences.

The quality of your sleep is therefore very important because you complete each sleep cycle including REM sleep. In this phase, the brain has the unique ability to adapt and continue to develop.

As the night progresses, dream sleep becomes longer. This means that you still remember the dreams you had just before waking up in the morning. You do not have control over when you can remember your dreams; it depends on which phase you wake up in.

Too little REM sleep has unpleasant consequences. Because the brain has not been able to properly process your experiences at night, you get the feeling of a ‘full head’. Your long-term memory worsens, as does your ability to concentrate and to put things into perspective. Unprocessed emotions make you more irritable and more likely to end up in conflict situations.

Research shows that good REM sleep also helps reduce overactivity in the amygdala (the fear center in the brain). Too little REM sleep is therefore linked to anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and burnout. This leads to extra stress and sleeplessness and sets a vicious circle in motion that is difficult to break.

You can compare it to your digestion processing food. Just as your brain processes thoughts, information, and experiences during REM sleep. If your digestion is temporarily interrupted, it causes symptoms such as heartburn, nausea, diarrhea, or a bloated stomach. When you think about it this way, it is not surprising that too little REM sleep in the brain quickly leads to problems.

How much REM sleep you need depends greatly on your personal needs and age. For example, a baby spends more than 50% of the total sleep time in this sleep phase, while elderly people around 80 years old have almost no REM sleep left.

For the average adult, 20% to 25% of the total sleep time is a good guideline for a healthy amount of REM sleep. Assuming at least 8 hours of sleep per night, you should spend about 1.5 to 2 hours per night in REM sleep.

Now that you know that REM sleep is part of the entire sleep cycle, you will understand that you must also address everything to promote your REM sleep. If you sleep too little or not deeply enough, this will also have negative consequences for the length and quality of your REM sleep.

The first tip is to adjust your sleep rhythm to a consistent sleep rhythm. This stimulates your sleep cycle to go in a ‘normal’ way. It also helps to create a relaxed brain and body before going to bed. A weighted blanket can help you with this. By using the weighted blanket, for example, already on the couch, you can experience calm before going to bed. This makes it easier to fall asleep, you will sleep better through the night, and thus experience a better sleep cycle.

The following tips can also help to promote your REM sleep.

• Reduce your alcohol intake. Research shows that a drink may help you fall asleep a little faster in the evening, but it greatly reduces the quality of your REM sleep because you sleep less deeply. This causes you to wake up less rested.
• Exercise sufficiently daily. Research shows that regular exercise can promote the quality of your REM sleep. But never exercise too much just before going to sleep, as this causes you to lie awake longer.
• Ensure a quiet, cool, and dark bedroom. These are the perfect conditions to promote your sleep rhythm.

We hope that after reading this article you know everything about REM sleep again. Do you have any questions? Then be sure to let us know. We are happy to help you!