The mysterious action of the brain during sleep has always been a subject of curiosity and investigation. In general, sleep is categorized into two states. The first state is REM sleep which involves swift eye behavior with increased heart rate and blood pressure. It is also known as dream sleep. The second one is Non-REM or NREM sleep which is a peaceful state. At night, our sleep cycle includes stage I, stage II, stage III, stage IV, stage III, stage II and then REM. Each sleep cycle can include 4 to 5 cycles of 90 to 100 minutes each. Immediately as we go off to sleep, stage I of Non-REM sleep begins. Within the next 5 to 15 minutes, we enter into the stage II of the sleep that is comparative deeper than the first one and thereafter follows stage III and stage IV. At stage IV sleep our muscles are completely relaxed and we are in a least arouse-able state, although we may move our bodies back and forth at different stages of our sleep. Stage IV is the deepest stage of sleep and stage I is considered as the weakest one.

REM sleep generally emerges in the early hours of dawn, shortly before we are wide awake. REM is fascinating event because people dream in this phase of their sleep. Brain is significantly more alert during the duration of REM than during the Non-REM sleep. During this phase the parts of the body that show movements are the diaphragm and the extra ocular muscles of our eyes. Remaining parts of our body nearly remain crippled, although the precise cause behind this queer body behavior continue to be a matter of research.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder which obstructs the normal fashion of sleep. The patient spends an irrational amount of time in stage III/IV and REM sleep. This results in a very uncomfortable sleep. The person does not feel fresh even after many hours of sleep. They do not like to get out of bed and always feel like going to bed again.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 5:22 am.