REM sleep is our restorative sleep. We all need it to restore our bodies. Patients with Sleep Apnea often have a decrease in the amount of REM sleep they get but still go into REM as does everyone. You may not achieve REM every time you sleep especially when you are just taking a short nap. There may be nights that a Sleep apnea patient does not achieve REM but that does NOT mean they never have REM sleep. When someone who has Sleep Apnea achieves Rem stage the apnea events increase because the tension and mucsles relax causing the obstruction in the airway to get worse. In turn the body reacts to the lack of air by gasping, choking, moving until the obstruction releases long enough for the person to breathe again. This often brings the person out of REM stage and into a lighter stage of sleep or wake stage. Therefore REM is often reduced. Around 20% of our total sleep time a night in REM is consider normal. Most sleep apnea patients' Rem is considerably less than this.
REM
Truly "deep" sleep does not occur during REM sleep. REM sleep is when you are dreaming. It is deeper than light sleep, but not as far down in unconsciousness as "deep" sleep.
REM (Random Eye Movement).
Disorders of sleep in patients with LBD typically can include impairment of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep; REM sleep behavior disorder causes vivid and frightening dreams. Patients may also exhibit loss of muscle tone or cataplexy
When a person has been deprived of REM sleep for long enough they will not cycle through sleep patterns as a well rested person would. These REM deprived patients will enter REM sleep much more rapidly and will spend more time in REM sleep over the course of the night as their body attempts to "catch up" for the lost REM. This expedited process of entering REM is called REM rebound.
They occur during REM sleep, usually in the second half of the night
They occur during REM sleep, usually in the second half of the night
Sleep is prompted by natural cycles of activity in the brain and consists of two basic states: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, which consists of Stages 1 through 4. During sleep, the body cycles between non-REM and REM sleep. Typically, people begin the sleep cycle with a period of non-REM sleep followed by a very short period of REM sleep. Dreams generally occur in the REM stage of sleep. Then the cycle repeats all over again.
The longest REM cycle occurs in the early morning hours. This is why it's easier to lucid dream on weekends, longer hours of sleep in the morning.
REM is already an abbreviation of Rapid Eye Movement, a phase of sleep where dreams usually occur.
This usually occurs in REM sleep, when dream states occur. It is not necessarily pathological.
Very recent research suggests that dreams that occur during REM sleep tend to be more agitated and troubled than dreams that occur during non-REM sleep. More research is being done to better understand the difference.