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Sleeping Problems (Home) > More Articles on Sleeping > Rapid Eye Movement Rapid Eye Movement(REM): Definition and Importance
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Random Sleeping Tip |
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| Can I ask if you are a person who is having either alcohol or caffeine at a very high level. Well if the answer is yes, then I must ask you that whether you are having problems with sleep at night, I think that you answer might be in a yes. It is very important for you to acknowledge the fact that high levels of caffeine intake and alcohol can greatly affect your normal sleep patterns and you would be unable to sleep at night, so you can try to limit it and especially not have coffee or alcohol before bedtime. | ||
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.
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.
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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Resources:
REM Sleep Info, REM sleep article, 5th stage of sleep, sleep stage five REM