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Sleeping Problems (Home) > More Articles on Sleeping > Rapid Eye Movement

Rapid Eye Movement(REM): Definition and Importance

Sleep is an ordinary part of living and people go to sleep every day. This is perhaps the reason why people take sleeping for granted. When people are asleep, does it follow that all their body parts are also asleep or are there some body parts, especially the brain, ,that remains awake?

Simply said, does the brain cease to function when a person falls asleep? Is REM or rapid eye movement connected in any way to brain activity even while a person is asleep?

People who have normal sleeping habits usually undergo five stages of sleep. The lightest quality of sleep is in the first stage. Most people spend more time in the second stage while stages four and five are considered that stage when the person is already in deep slumber. Children usually experience wetting their beds and sleepwalking during these periods. REM sleep is known as the fifth or the last stage of sleep and it is characterized by rapid eye movement.

Rapid eye movement is associated with a physiological condition which is said to occur when a person is asleep. This physiological condition, said to occur every ninety minutes of sleep time, is characterized by rapid eye movement, rising heart rate, and heavy breathing.

	Random Sleeping Tip
Some people say that sleep can be induced through psychological means. People who are not getting to sleep is because their body does not recognize that they are tired and this is the time for sleep. People say that one must make themselves yawn a couple of times and that it is then their mind sends a signal that they are tired and it is time for them to sleep. This is a totally psychological way of realizing that one needs to sleep now.

There are scientists who believe that dreaming and rapid eye movement are related. Dreams are actually proof that a person's brain is active even during sleeping time. Scientists explained that dreams are images that are influenced and sent by brain signals.

The condition called REM sleep is actually triggered by the emission of brain chemicals identified as acetylcholine. While REM sleep is switched on by acetylcholine, it is switched off by brain neurotransmitters known as serotonin and noradrenalin.

The scientific explanation that dreams or REM sleep is triggered by acetylcholine and is switched off by other brain chemicals proves an earlier theory by Freud wrong, that dreams are not useless images but they have meaning. Some scientists believed that dreams are merely products of brain processes.

Which part of a person's brain is responsible for dreams?

The frontal lobes are said to be responsible for dreaming while the forebrain provides the motivation which triggers dreaming. This was proven by a scientific experiment which intentionally damaged the pathway to the front lobes and the forebrain. The said damage to these brain parts resulted in the termination of dreaming.

This method of introducing damage to these areas is being used by doctors in treating schizophrenic patients. By damaging the pathway to these areas, the doctors lessened and eventually stopped the dreaming episodes of schizophrenics.

Scientists believe that REM sleep or this state of rapid eye movement while sleeping stimulates dreaming. However, not all dreams are triggered by REM sleep as evidenced by dreams and seizures that occur while sleeping in the morning.

While dreams do remain active during sleep time, there are some brain parts that remain active only when a person is awake. This part of the brain, known as the dorsolateral frontal convexity or that part of the brain located in between the frontal and back brain parts is idle during sleep time.

Importance of the discovery of REM sleep

That period when there is rapid eye movement is the most dynamic stage of sleep. However, the entire body is not moving during the REM period when dream occurs. During the REM sleep, a person's brain is awake and active, the same way when a person is fully awake.

Some dreams are violent and the problem occurs when the person starts to act out his dream, causing REM sleep disorder. Some people who wake up after a violent dream can remember the images of their dreams but most could no longer remember what they did physically in their dreams. This explains cases where sleeping people strangle their sleep companions but in their dreams, they are actually saving the other person perhaps from drowning.

Most people do not have physical control over their actions while dreaming. While some people correlate dreams to their personal lives, most dreams and what occurs in it, are not related to a person's daily life activities.

The discovery of this state of REM sleep proved that a person's brain is functioning even while the person is asleep. It shows that the brain does not lie idle but remains awake and active even during sleep time.

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