What is rem sleep 

Sleep is intuitive 

Sleep is the capability given to all animals by intuition. It is neither a learnt exercise nor a matter of option. The nocturnal animals sleep in day and are active in night. Most of the others conversely sleep in night and are active in day. None of them can change their biological clock at will. There are some animals like polar bear which undergo a long period of hibernation; also a type of sleep 

Phases of sleep 

In human beings there are well defined phases of sleep, collectively known as sleep cycle. They are categorized on the basis of the rapidity of eye movement during sleep. The phase, during which the eyes do not move or move just slightly, is known as non rapid eye movement phase. 

The first phase 

The first phase is very short time REM sleep and may be considered as preamble to sleep. It is a very light sleep phase and if the person is aroused during this phase, he or she doesn’t react like the one getting up after sleeping. It is completed within a short period of five to ten minutes. 

The second and third phases 

The second and third phases are the deep sleep phases the former being lighter while the later is a deeper sleep phase. Both these phases are characterized by reduced brain activity, reduced muscular activity, decreased body temperature and increased respiration. Both these phases are categorized as non rem phases and people do not dream during these phases. Any attempt to arouse someone during these phases results in a stupefied response. 

what is rem sleep?

Rem sleep is an important phase of different phases of sleep cycle and is characterized by an active brain and inactive muscles. It is in this stage that people dream. It is probably on this account that nature has deliberately inactivated the muscles in this phase by default to avoid any reaction to the dreams, which otherwise might have been quite violent and harmful at times. Most of the sleep disorders are associated with the disturbance of this phase. Special care is required for the persons suffering from rem related problems. Any disturbance during this phase is very likely to disturb the brain too because of its active involvement. The rem is not a single continuous phase. It is a discontinuous phase comprising of many successively increasing time periods starting from below ten minutes and extending to over ninety minutes at times. 

Distinguishing features of REM sleep 

Increased frequency of dreams, unexpected behavarioul changes, and decrease in memory are the distinguishing features of REM sleep. Without having undisturbed rem sleep an individual will not wake up fresh. Moreover the person deprived of proper rem sleep may fall victim to more serious sleep disorders. One out of such disorders is that a person falls irresistibly in need of sleep and may not have enough time to lie and may suddenly fall anywhere in any position, which obviously is only too serious a conditionto be ignored.