Sleep Science and Dreaming

Sleep Science and Dreaming

Do you wonder why your dreams make you act weird while you sleep through the night? Scientists have outlined for us the certain changes that occur during sleep, how your brain reacts to the sleep changes throughout the night, when you dream during sleep and the different types of dreams that occur, and what purpose do dreams have today. Scientist have studied sleep since the 1950’s and continue to study it through today. Scientists are studying and learning about sleep disorders that people have while they sleep such as sleepwalking, sleep apnea, and insomnia to name a few. The scientists started by looking at simple facts about how sleep changes through the night.

Scientists began studying sleep by simply watching someone sleep. During the beginning sleep stage, NREM-1, the brain activity slows almost to a complete stop and you don’t notice that you have fallen asleep. During this brief stage of sleep you can possibly have hallucinations, which is when you can sometimes feel like you are falling or like you are being held down. If you just got done watching a science fiction film about aliens you might think you’re getting abducted in this stage. The second stage of sleep, NREM-2, you become more relaxed for about 20 minutes with bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity. This stage tends to be the most popular for light sleepers, because they can’t get past this second stage even though they are clearly asleep. Next, you go into a deep sleep when it will be hard to wake up. This is NREM-3, your brain emits large, slow delta waves for about 30 minutes. People at this stage may do things like wet the bed or kick their spouse onto the floor. After you have made it this f ar into sleep, about an hour, you return back to the NREM-2 stage and have about 10 minutes of rapid brain waves. This is when you stay in REM for half the night, your heart rate rises, your breathing is rapid and irregular and your eyes dart around which shows the beginning of a dream....

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