The Importance Of Sleep

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Sleep is associated with a state of muscle relaxation and reduced perception of environmental stimuli.
Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body, characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli but is more easily reversed than the state of being comatose. Sleep is a state in which most animals and all people, including you, are unaware of their surroundings. It is a natural and biological need, just like the need for food and water. Most people will spend about one-third of their lives sleeping. While sleeping, your eyes closed, your …show more content…

Sleep is an irresistible force in our lives, and in recent years we have learned a lot about sleep. A sleeping animal or person must be able to wake up. Sleep is an orderly process. Your body goes through sleep cycles. The teen typically goes through four or five full cycles during the night. Each cycle lasts about sixty to ninety minutes and goes through five stages of sleep. Each sleep cycles has two states: rapid eye movement (RAM) and non-REM. REM is the dream state, and non-REM is quite sleeping. The sleep cycle goes from light non-REM sleep to deep non-REM sleep, and then to REM sleep. During the state, the body repairs and energize itself (Peterson, 2010).We know that each time we sleep, the patterns of electrical activity in our brains change from the rapid waves of wakefulness to the slow waves of deep slumber. Then, periods of intense brain activity begin, much like those experienced during wakefulness. But the sleeper still sleeps, with …show more content…

Stage one, called light sleep, lasts about five minutes. Stage two, or the onset of sleep, last thirty to forty minutes. During stage one and stage two, your brain waves slow, and your heart rate and body temperature drop. People can easily wake during these stages. Stage three and stage four are deep-sleep stages. Brain waves become slower and larger. Heart rate and breathing slow and become more regular (Peterson,