Stages of Sleep
Stages of Sleep
People have always had a misconception about sleep. The majority in the community believes that sleep is a passive moment when the bodies “turn off” while sleeping and “turn back” when one is awake (“Stages of Sleep”). Nonetheless, this belief is wrong as sleep is characterised with brain activities that vary more when a person is asleep than in normal waking condition. The several stages of sleep are explained with brain wave activity, muscle tone, and eye movement and all of them have their importance (Lovell and Liszewski). So the changes in the body movement help us understand the important of sleep to people’s health.
The functions of the brain and the body stay active throughout one’s sleep but vary in the different stages of sleep. Each has a specific type of brain wave with a specific movement of the body muscles. For instance, sleep has two basic types: rapid eye movement stage and non-rapid eye movement (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Non-rapid eye movement characterises the first stages of sleep. The understanding of rapid eye movement is important and as a student I would recommend children to sleep more so that they can grow fast enough. This is because growth hormone is released at the first 90 minute of sleep.
After the completion of the first stage, an individual then enters the second one, which is also synonymous with non-rapid eye movement. This is as a result of slower brain waves, but with occasional eruptions of the rapid waves (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Individuals who sleep walk or children who wet their bed do that in the third stage of sleep. During this time, there is an increased flow of blood to the muscle which helps restore the fresh body. So I would use this knowledge to encourage my colleagues to sleep appropriately to synergize their body for healthy living. This would also help them work without interruption of ailment out of lack of enough sleep.
After the stage of deep sleep, a person moves to the rapid eye movement sphere where the eyes become active. So they move rapidly while the eyelid remains closed. The heart and breathing rates increase, but unevenly. Individual dreams occur during this rapid eye movement period. However, the arm and legs muscles do not move at this stage as they are usually paralyzed so people do not move in their dreams (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). It is at this stage the body restores the brain functioning and clears all unnecessary memories. So completion of sleep to the fourth stage gives people fresh memories and restores their mood. That is why psychiatrist should use sleep as a remedy to patient with mood swings as a result of depression or other social problems.
Sleep is one of the most important activities, and people should devote one-third of their time every day to it. The tendencies of people cutting back their sleep in sake of other pressing issues like a job and family responsibilities has a devastating effect on one’s health. Studies show that important tasks undertaken during sleep improve the immunity and functioning of the body to its optimal level (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Therefore, I would encourage all working class to spend enough time sleeping to improve their productivity in their day to day activities.
Scholars also agree that a proper sleep cycle and the fulfilment of the four stages help people improve their memory (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). Therefore, given that student requires a healthy brain to be able to learn fast enough, I would recommend parents and school administrators in boarding schools to let the student sleep for at least 9 hours during the night. Moreover, I would also advise that students with learning problem to extend their sleeping hours. This is because a complete completion of all sleep stages helps people to have a fresh mind that can retain what they learn. Sleeping for more hours than required help improve people’s memory as well as gives one a good mood at all times (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005).
References
Lovell, K. and Liszewski, C. (Nd). Summary: Normal sleep patterns and sleep disorders. Retrieved from http://learn.chm.msu.edu/NeuroEd/neurobiology_disease/content/otheresources/sleepdisorders.pdf
Stages of Sleep. (Nd). Retrieved from https://web.mst.edu/~psyworld/sleep_stages.htm
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Your guide to healthy sleep. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf
