As you sleep at night, your brain cycles through various stages of activity. You fall into deep sleep, then come into a more shallow stage of sleep known as REM sleep. It is during REM sleep that your brain activity is remarkably similar to how it is when you are awake--and indeed, it is the period in which you do the majority of your dreaming.

As you fall asleep, your brain activity goes from your wakeful gamma waves to drowsy theta waves and finally into delta waves--which indicate deep sleep. You then arise from deep sleep into REM sleep, which is when you have the most vivid dreams. It's not uncommon to wake briefly at the end of an REM cycle, and you will probably feel awake and refreshed.

Generally a person goes through several REM phases in a night, dropping into deep sleep between these. If you are not sleeping enough, it is your REM phase that is most notably affected--in fact, if you miss a night of sleep, your REM periods will last longer the subsequent night, as if to compensate for this sleep debt. Some scientists theorize that REM sleep is used to consolidate memories--but all agree that adequate REM sleep is essential to proper mental and physical health.

For people with sleep disorders, the hardest part of sleep is falling into the deep sleep that comes before REM. At Ultimate Sleep Solution, our sleep system teaches you how to put yourself into a deep sleep at will. By overcoming the hurdle of finding a way from wakefulness to deep sleep, you can get refreshing REM sleep on a natural cycle. Give us a call today to find out more.