The Importance of The Cycle of Sleep

It is important to understand the cycle of sleep in order to understand the process of dreaming. Before we can gather information from our dreams, we need to understand where these dreams come, and for this we need to understand the different phases of sleep and how they relate to each other.

The sleep cycle is made up of four individual stages, and each person goes through four phases each night. The length of each cycle varies from one person to another, but every human being experiences the four stages of sleep every night.

Typically, the dreams that are most likely to remember are those who place the closest to enlightenment. Dreams that occur earlier in the night, are almost never remembered. The only exception to this rule is that these dreams are sufficiently worrisome to wake the dreamer. If a dreamer wakes up in mid-sleep dream, like a nightmare or a particularly vivid dream about the fall, he or she will most likely remember vividly every detail of the dream.

Let's look at each of the four stages of sleep, beginning, logically, in the first phase.
Step 1:
The first phase of sleep is a very light sleep, and the slightest disturbance can awaken the dreamer at this stage. The first phase of sleep that usually lasts a few minutes, and most of the sleepers move quickly to the second stage.

Step 2:
The second stage of sleep is much deeper, and it is much harder to wake the sleeper up at this stage. While the dream state begins in phase two, there is usually no clearly established images at this point. Instead of dreaming of a second phase consists mainly of vague ideas and images floating around the mind. After the second stage is completed, the dreamer is fast moving to the third stage.

Step 3:
The third phase of sleep is even more profound than the second step. At this stage, the muscles of the body sleepers have relaxed, and the heart rate and respiratory rate were both slowed. The sleeper in blood pressure decreases too, at this stage, and breathing and is typically very stable. A sleeper in the third phase of sleep is very difficult to wake up, and generally aroused can only be accomplished by a strong astonishing noise or the sleeper shouting his name several times.

Step 4:
Step Four is the deepest stage of sleep, and one in which takes place over the dream. During this stage of sleep, it is almost impossible to wake the sleeper. During phase four of sleep, the sleeper moves in and out of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep on several occasions. It is during REM sleep that dreaming occurs. The eyes quickly move from under their lids, heart beat and respiration spike, and brain wave activity increase. In fact, studies have shown that brain wave activity is higher during sleep to dream than it is during the normal consciousness.

Most sessions dream sleep last about 10 minutes, after which the sleeper is returning to normal deep sleep of stage four. The dreamer will cycle back and forth between four stages of sleep and dream sleep several times a night, often repeating the process four to seven times on an average night.

By : bluegreen