Stages of Sleep
Nicole Hogan
5 Stages of Sleep
Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily
Stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves
Stage 3, extremely slow brain waves called delta waves are interspersed with smaller, faster waves
Stage 4, the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively
REM (Rapid Eye Movement), breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed
~Waking may occur after REM
~Adults spend nearly half of sleep time in stage 2, about 20% in REM and the other 30% is divided between the other three stages
~Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep
~A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 to 110 minutes