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| rapid_eye_movement_rem_sleep [2023/01/11 06:57] – andrewtaustin | rapid_eye_movement_rem_sleep [2026/10/07 11:33] (current) – Correct sleep staging and REM claims; replace unsourced deprivation advice with clinical research context. andrewtaustin |
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| ====== Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep ====== | ====== Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep ====== |
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| Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a stage of sleep characterized by rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone, and vivid dreaming. It is one of the five stages of sleep, along with non-REM stages 1 through 4, that occur in a cyclical pattern throughout the night. | REM sleep is one of the recurring states of sleep. It includes rapid eye movements, characteristic brain activity and reduced tone in many skeletal muscles. It occurs within a cycle containing both REM and non-REM sleep; it is not simply the final stage reached once each night. |
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| The five stages of sleep are stages 1 through 4 of non-REM sleep and stage 5, which is REM sleep. | ===== Sleep Stages ===== |
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| * **Non-REM Stage 1:** This is the initial stage of sleep, also known as light sleep. During this stage, the brain activity slows down, and the body begins to relax. It is easy to wake a person up during this stage. | Current descriptions distinguish **three non-REM stages (N1, N2 and N3) and REM sleep**. Older diagrams that show four non-REM stages plus REM use a superseded staging system; the former deep-sleep stages 3 and 4 are now grouped as N3. See the [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68012894|National Library of Medicine's sleep-stages definition]] for the change in terminology. |
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| * **Non-REM Stage 2:** In this stage, the brain activity slows down further and the body's temperature and heart rate decrease. The muscles relax even more, and it becomes harder to wake a person up. | ^ Stage ^ General description ^ |
| | | N1 | Transition from waking into sleep. | |
| | | N2 | Established non-REM sleep, usually lighter than N3. | |
| | | N3 | Deep or slow-wave sleep; generally more prominent earlier in the night. | |
| | | REM | Active brain patterns, rapid eye movements and reduced skeletal-muscle tone; generally more prominent later in the night. | |
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| * **Non-REM Stage 3:** This is the stage of deep sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep. Brain activity slows down even further, and it is very difficult to wake a person up during this stage. This stage is essential for physical repair and restoration. | Sleep cycles and time spent in each stage vary. REM periods usually become longer later in the night. There is no rule that every stage lasts 5–15 minutes. See [[https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/stages-of-sleep|NHLBI: Sleep Phases and Stages]]. |
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| * **Non-REM Stage 4:** This stage is similar to stage 3, but it is the deepest stage of sleep, and it is even harder to wake a person up. This stage is also essential for physical repair and restoration. | ===== Dreaming, Memory and Emotion ===== |
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| * **REM Sleep:** Rapid Eye Movement sleep stage, it is characterized by rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone, and vivid dreaming. | Dreaming is especially vivid during REM but is not confined to it. Sleep supports several aspects of learning and memory; assigning all memory processing to REM is too simple. REM and non-REM processes are investigated using different tasks and experimental designs. See [[https://www.ninds.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/understanding-sleep.pdf|NINDS: Understanding Sleep]] and the experimental work on [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27748246/|interference in memory and REM/non-REM sleep]]. |
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| These stages occur in a cyclical pattern throughout the night, with each stage lasting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, and the pattern typically repeats every 90-120 minutes. | A finding about performance after a particular sleep manipulation does not establish that all dreams serve the same function, or that a person's dream reveals an accurate hidden memory. |
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| REM sleep is thought to be important for emotional and cognitive functioning, as well as for the consolidation of memories. The brain activity during REM sleep is similar to that of wakefulness, with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making and complex thinking, and decreased activity in the parietal cortex, which is involved in sensory processing. | ===== REM Deprivation ===== |
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| The first REM stage of the night usually occur around 90 minutes after falling asleep, and the duration of the REM stage increases with each cycle, lasting about 60 minutes in the last cycle before waking. However, the total amount of REM sleep decreases as the night goes on, accounting for around 25% of total sleep time in the first half of the night, and only around 10% in the second half of the night. | Experiments that interrupt REM must be interpreted in light of other changes they introduce, such as awakenings and disruption of sleep continuity. Results from a specific task or animal model should not be presented as a universal prediction about a person's emotional health. Research on REM and research on total sleep deprivation are also different questions. |
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| REM sleep is also essential for a number of physiological functions, it helps to regulate hormones, improve cardiovascular health, and improve energy metabolism, it is also the stage of sleep that help with the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is important for memory and learning. | ===== REM and Depression ===== |
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| Disruptions to REM sleep can have negative effects on cognitive and emotional functioning, and may be associated with a number of disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. | Sleep and mood are related, but depression cannot be diagnosed from an assumed amount of REM sleep or explained simply as “too much REM”. The [[https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression|NIMH depression overview]] describes sleep disturbance among possible symptoms and multiple contributing factors. A change in sleep architecture during treatment does not, on its own, establish the mechanism of improvement. |
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| It is concluded that REM sleep is a unique and vital stage of the sleep cycle, playing a crucial role in cognitive, emotional, and physiological functioning. It is essential to have a healthy sleep hygiene routine to ensure a proper and sufficient amount of REM sleep each night. | ===== Sleep Deprivation Therapy ===== |
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| ===== REM Deprivation ===== | Wake therapy has been studied in clinical depression, often alongside other interventions. In a [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8719121/|1996 controlled study]], some patients improved after partial sleep deprivation and bright light helped maintain improvement among responders. A [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34526921/|2021 randomised inpatient trial]] found no significant advantage at one week for its sleep-deprivation and bright-light intervention over the comparison condition. These studies used different designs and do not supply a universal treatment rule. |
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| There have been studies that have investigated the effects of chronic deprivation of REM sleep in both animals and humans. These studies typically involve either disrupting REM sleep during the night or preventing REM sleep from occurring altogether. | Such research is not an instruction to miss sleep before starting antidepressants or before an IEMT session. Deliberate sleep deprivation for depression belongs in appropriately supervised clinical care, with assessment of suitability and risk. |
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| In animal studies, it has been found that chronic deprivation of REM sleep leads to a number of negative effects, including weight loss, decreased immune function, and cognitive impairments. Long-term deprivation of REM sleep also causes an increase in aggressive behavior and a decrease in social interaction. | ===== Relevance to IEMT ===== |
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| In human studies, researchers have found that chronic deprivation of REM sleep can lead to a number of negative effects on cognitive and emotional functioning, including difficulties with memory, attention, and decision-making, as well as increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. Studies have also shown that chronic REM sleep deprivation can lead to irritability, lack of concentration, and fatigue. | The presence of eye movements in both REM sleep and an awake intervention does not establish that the intervention reproduces REM physiology or its effects. An IEMT mechanism would need direct investigation; an analogy to sleep is a hypothesis, not a demonstration. |
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| It's worth noting that these studies were generally short-term, typically for a few days to a few weeks, and in most cases the subjects were eventually able to recover normal sleep patterns and cognitive functions once the deprivation ended. However, it is still uncertain the long-term consequences of chronic REM deprivation. | Sleep can still be included as a practical review topic: the person's own account of sleep quality, its effect on daily activities, any concurrent care, and whether further assessment is needed. Record this separately from claims about sleep stages or brain chemistry. See [[adaptive_formulation|Adaptive Formulation]] and [[treatment_plans|Treatment Plans]]. |
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| | {{tag>Anatomy eyes sleep eye_movements brain}} |
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