When learning about better ways of how to go to sleep, I have run across the five stages of sleep. They are called Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, and REM. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement.
All the sleep stages plus the REM stage complete a sleep cycle which takes about 90-110 minutes and repeats over and over during the night. Each stage is important and has different characteristics.
Stage 1 is very light sleep where we are just drifting off to sleep and are awakened easily. Our eyes are moving slowly and our muscle activity slows.
During Stage 2 our eye movements stop and brain waves slow down. In Stage 3 our extremely slow brain waves are called delta waves with some intermittent bursts of rapid waves. Stage 4 is nearly exclusively made up of delta waves. In Stages 3 and 4, there is almost no eye movement or muscle activity and it becomes very difficult to awaken a person. This is our deepest sleep.
These first 4 stages take about 79-90 minutes and then we progress into REM sleep. As the sleep cycles progress throughout the night the first 4 stages get shorter and the REM stage gets longer.
Freud believed that dreaming, which is done during REM sleep, was a “safety valve” for unconscious desires. REM sleep stimulates the brain regions used in learning. REM is also associated with learning of certain mental skills and when deprived of REM, some people could not remember skills taught before they slept. Some researchers suggest that REM sleep is necessary for the preservation of important memories. REM is also necessary for nervous system development and repair. That explains why babies spend so much time in REM — to learn and to develop their nervous systems.
REM appears to be the sleep stage that is most important to a refreshing night’s sleep.
[...] Understanding The Stages of Sleep – Watch The Video Here’s a video that explains the Stages of Sleep. You can also read our article about why REM sleep is important. [...]
Actually, considering the body prioritizes SWS (stage three and four) sleep over REM when it is deprived and the fact that if you make someone stay awake for the period they’d normally experience REM sleep and then let them go back to non REM sleep they don’t feel tired the next day, I’d say SWS is more important, I’ve no idea why you’re drawing the conclusion you are, REM is just the default thing for your mind to do between bouts of SWS sleep because SWS sleep for too long is bad for you.