REM Sleep

I find REM sleep to be very interesting. It is astounding to me how our brain works to protect us even in our sleep. REM sleep is deep sleep but also light in some ways. This stage of sleep was named REM when researchers discovered that there were long period of rapid eye movement during this stage. During REM sleep, our brain activity is very high but our body muscles are very relaxed which is why it is deep sleep. REM sleep is the stage of sleep in which we dream. This is why our brain activity is very high during this stage. When dream our body goes into a paralyzed state which is the deep part of REM sleep so that we won’t act out our dreams. Imagine if we acted out every single thing we dreamed. We’d be out there running, screaming, killing, etc. which would be too dangerous.

There are people who suffer from a certain disorder called REM Behavior Disorder. According to the National Sleep Foundation, people with this disorder act out their dreams because their body is not put in the paralyzed mode to keep them from acting out their dreams. They physically move limbs or even get up and engage in activities associated with waking. Some talk, shout, scream, hit, punch, or fly out of bed while sleeping! RBD is usually noticed when it causes danger to the sleeping person, their bed partner, or others they encounter.

For people with this disorder, their brain fails at protecting them during sleep and they can be at risk of great dangers not only for them but for anyone else around them while they are asleep because we all know, our dreams can get pretty crazy and dangerous sometimes!

Here's an example of someone with REM Behavior Disorder so you can see for yourselves what it looks like.