A sleep cycle consists of five steps, which are divided into two categories: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep, occurs toward the end of each cycle and is typically the stage for our most lucid dreams. Non-REM sleep is generally lighter and dreamless, save for a few fragmentary images here and there.
In the first stage mental activity begins to slow down, with brain waves switching to theta-band activity. This wave pattern has been described as a deep, marking the threshold between consciousness and the “subconscious.” However, intermittent bursts of alpha activity, or quiet wakefulness, often give you the sense that you’re still awake.
A study performed in the 1960s found that people who wake up at this stage don’t realize they’ve been sleeping. “Investigators asked subjects aroused out of various stages of sleep whether they considered themselves asleep,” the researchers wrote. “Only about 10 percent of those aroused from stage 1 said that they had been asleep.”
In the second stage eye movement stops and brain waves become slower, with alpha activity shutting down entirely.
Stage three and four set the stage for extremely slow brain waves called delta waves. In this stage,nightmares, sleepwalking, and somniloquy occur.
Stage five is the REM stage where the dreams that we remember start to take place. REM sleep is very important because the brain will do anything to not be disrupted by noises occurring around you such as alarms going off.
Wow that messes with your mind to know you’ve been sleeping when you didn’t even realize! This post also makes me wonder how sleep walking happens. With all of the different stages, how does one wake up but not really wake up? Here’s a look at how it happens! http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/sleepwalking.htm
This post was really interesting and I can definitely apply it to my sleeping habits. For instance, if I fall asleep while watching a movie or talking to my friends, and I am woken up, I have a hard time believing that I was sleeping. It is so weird to wake up and look at how much time has passed while you were sleeping, when that whole time you were under the notion that you were still awake. I for one, never remember my dreams, to the point where I wonder if I even dream at all. According to Psychology Today, it has not been proven that there are people who do not dream at all. According to past research, every human dreams an average of 2 hours every night, even if they do not remember them. According to a study done in France, people who remember their dreams have higher levels of brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction, as opposed to those who do not recall their dreams.
I love your post! It is interesting that only 10% of people who awake from stage one say that they were sleeping. I feel as if this happens to me all the time. I will wake up and check the time and I will automatically think that I have yet to fall asleep. Your post also got me thinking about why some people remember their dreams and others do not. There was an article in live science that shared a study about why some people do not remember their dreams. They could not find a direct answer but they did figure out that it is more likely for someone to remember their dream if they are awoken right after one has occurred. http://www.livescience.com/38856-why-people-recall-dreams.html