Sleep plays a vital role in good health and wellbeing. It is with sleep that our brain is able function better since it gets the necessary rest it needs to function the next day, which is why it's important to maintain a regular sleep cycle. In order to sleep, people must go through a series of stages: four non-REM stages and one REM stage.
As I fall asleep, I would begin with stage 1. This stage is also known as light sleeping. During this stage alpha wave activity begins to drift away while theta waves begin to take over. As I enter the stage, I will feel myself drifting in and out of sleep. My eyes will begin to move slowly and my muscles begin to feel more relaxed.
Soon after, Stage 2 begins to take over. In stage 2, This is the first stage of true sleep, lasting from 10 to 25 minutes. Your eye movement stops, heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases. Eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves.
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You become difficult to awaken, and if you are awakened, you do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes. In this deepest stage of sleep, my brain waves are extremely slow. Blood flow is directed away from the brain and towards the muscles, restoring physical energy. In stage 4, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Your eyes move rapidly, your breathing shallows, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase. Also during this stage, your arm and leg muscles are