Our sleep cycles are crucial to our health. REM sleep in particular is a cycle in the sleep cycle that’s the most active as far as restoration. Understanding REM sleep and knowing how much you need will help to resolve multiple health-related problems.
We cannot express enough how important sleep is for both your mental and physical health. Sleep is essential for many things:
- Rest and recovery: After a full day, the body is weak. Sleep helps the body to build bone and muscle as well as strengthen our immune system and so much more.
- Physical health: You may have heard that cardio is good for the heart. This is true. Physical activity can help your overall health by lowering the risk of chronic diseases and other health conditions.
- Productivity: Consider how you feel when you haven’t gotten an adequate amount of sleep. Most likely you feel groggy and timid. A full night’s sleep can help to improve concentration which in turn affects productivity and performance.
- Mental health: Lack of sleep has been known to link to mental disorders. Such disorders affect daily life and attitude. Sleep also affects mood.
Among many other factors, these are some of the most important reasons you need sleep. So if you may be struggling with sleep, what can be done to fix this? We will later address several changes that can be made to help sleep but before this, we need to understand REM sleep.
Understanding REM sleep will help to explain how the body is restored when we sleep; and why we need that sleep to be uninterrupted.
What is REM sleep?
REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is one of the four stages your body goes through when sleeping? What happens during REM sleep?
During REM sleep, the brain is actually rather active; including:
- Irregular breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Rapid eye movement
- Muscle paralysis
Dreaming occurs during this stage, especially vivid dreams. These dreams are important for memory, regulating emotions, and learning from what partook during the day.
REM sleep occurs after 90 minutes of falling asleep. It will typically last for about 10 to 20 minutes. What happens is each REM cycle will get longer as the night goes on.
What happens if my REM sleep is disrupted?
All disruptions of sleep can be negative. Consistent disruption can lead to long-term and unhealthy results. Some of these include:
- Sleep disorders: Sleep disorders occur when a person is not getting enough sleep. These types of disorders make rest and relaxation very difficult and sometimes dangerous. Examples of disorders that can occur because of consistent disruption during sleep are insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea.
- Memory and learning: As we stated before, REM sleep is when we take what we learned from the day and consolidate memories. Without REM sleep, the body cannot soak up what it needs from the day. Disruptions in REM sleep have been known to lead to difficulty in memory retention and even cognitive processing.
- Fatigue: Naturally, lack of sleep can increase feelings of fatigue. While sometimes this can be a simple annoyance, fatigue can affect alertness in the brain which means you process things slower. As they say, never drive a car while exhausted.
- Physical health: As stated before, physical health correlates with proper sleep hygiene. If that sleep hygiene is interrupted frequently, physical health could suffer from chronic conditions, heart disease, and even obesity.
- Emotional health: Sleep affects mood. If you get a terrible night’s sleep after a stressful day, your mood is going to be impacted negatively. If you are not in a positive headspace, emotions can suffer.
How much sleep do you need?
Generally, adults will want to get around 7-9 hours of sleep. As you age, it is crucial to get as much sleep as possible. Lifestyle needs to be considered and resolved if you are noticing you have an unhealthy sleep schedule.
There is a difference though between 7-9 hours of sleep, and 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We hope that you understand that uninterrupted sleep is the best form of sleep; this is how we heal and grow from the day.
If you struggle to get the adequate amount of sleep required, a sleep supplement may just be the aid for you. Relaxium has a safe and effective sleep supplement called Relaxium Sleep. This supplement was designed to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and have you waking up feeling refreshed and alert.
How can I better my REM sleep?
There are changes that can be made to better REM sleep. These include:
- Waking up and falling asleep at the same time: Ensuring that you fall asleep and wake up at the same time each day will allow the body to get into a routine
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed: Caffeine is a stimulant that can affect sleep. Alcohol before bed can also be a disruptor of sleep
- Exercise frequently: Exercising helps to tire the body out; not to mention its great for your physical health
- Limit screen time before bed: Technology emits blue light that triggers the brain to help stay up. This is the opposite of what you want when seeking a better sleep schedule.
- Create a relaxing sleep environment: Where you sleep absolutely affects the quality of sleep. If you transform your environment for optimal rest, sleep may come much easier.
Prioritize your REM sleep by making these changes today
For so many reasons we need sleep. REM sleep is what helps us to grow and learn from each day. Allowing it to complete its course is necessary for health.
Relaxium offers a number of safe and effective supplements that aid in the categories of sleep, calm, focus, and immunity. Created by Clinical Neurologist and Sleep Expert, Dr. Eric Ciliberti, TryRelaxium.com offers a 30-day Money Back Guarantee trial of Relaxium Sleep to allow our users to truly experience its effects. To try the product today visit our website for more information.
To restful and healthy days ahead.
The Relaxium Team
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318605/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/12148-sleep-basics