What is REM Sleep and How Much Do You Need?

Many people confuse REM sleep with deep sleep but they’re different. Deep sleep occurs during the non-REM sleep, not during REM.

REM sleep normally happens after you’ve been asleep for about 90 minutes. You have several stages of this type of sleep each night, going in and out of REM and NREM sleep. Your first period of REM normally lasts for 10 minutes, and each REM stage that follows gets longer. The last stage of REM can be as long as an hour.

You may not be able to tell if you’re in REM sleep (as you’re asleep at the time!), but you can tell if someone else is in a REM sleep stage. Signs of REM include:

• Eyes moving rapidly under the eyelids
• Sexual arousal can occur
• Breathing becomes fast and irregular

Other signs that you’ll not be able to see but can happen in the body during REM include:

• A change in body temperature
• Heart rate increases to near waking levels
• The brain increases oxygen consumption
• Blood pressure increases

REM sleep is important because it is a key part of the sleep process as it helps develop your learning, memory, emotions, and central nervous system. Let’s look at these reasons in more detail…

1. Learning and memory

There are studies that suggest that if people are unable to get enough REM sleep, they have difficulty with their memory – both forming memories from the day before and picking up new skills the day after. One study showed that not getting enough REM for just 4 days affected cell proliferation in the part of the brain that contributes to long-term memory in rats.

2. Central Nervous System (CNS) development

It’s thought that REM sleep is important for brain development in babies. One study suggests that REM is responsible for the neural stimulation that is needed to develop mature neural connections.

REM sleep is also so essential as its crucial functions mentioned above are different to those of NREM and deep sleep. Therefore, getting the correct amount of all types of sleep is necessary for your well-being.

3. Emotional regulation

As we learn more about sleep, scientists have discovered that it plays a vital role in emotional processing while we are unconscious, but also while we are awake. Sleep deprivation in general can make us more sensitive to emotional stimuli and therefore, less able to cope with everyday stressors.

When looking specifically at REM sleep and emotional regulation, researchers found a significant link between the two. Both REM percentage (amount of time in REM) and REM latency (the time it takes to reach REM sleep) had a correlation with difficulties in emotional regulation, including lack of behaviour control and difficulty recognising emotions.

If you’re worried about whether you’re getting enough REM sleep, it’s important to know you cannot improve just your REM sleep quality. You will need to make holistic changes to your sleep routine, so these methods are tips for sleeping better, which will have a knock-on effect.

Although you may not be able to control this all the time, if you ensure your sleep environment is right for you, this should help you to sleep through the night thus, helping you get your recommended amount of REM sleep. So, make sure your room is at a comfortable temperature, use blackout blinds or an eye mask if there are bright lights outside, and even use earplugs if you’re in a noisy area.

The best way to improve your REM sleep is to simply get enough quality sleep. It’s an important part of your nightly sleep cycles, which can affect your overall health. Sleep is important for your well-being, so don’t let it slip and try to make sure that you’re getting enough! For comprehensive tips on improving your sleep experience, visit our guide on how to sleep better at night.