I'm very interested in the importance of REM sleep and what kind of effect it has on the body when it's restricted. Rats restricted of REM sleep seem to die within a few weeks, which would point towards it being an essential step in sleep. When humans are deprived of REM sleep, we tend to have an REM rebound--a noticeable increase in the amount of time we spend in the stage when sleeping.
When in REM sleep our bodies are basically paralyzed, and our minds are very active. Why is this so important to our survival? Why do our eyes flutter about? It has been related to the dreaming within REM sleep, one example being someone who's eyes were moving back and forth and later described his dream to be that of a ping pong match.
I've also read that some drugs such as marijuana inhibit REM sleep, and therefore chronic marijuana users should have a lack of REM sleep especially in consumption before bed. What kind of health effects does this have on those people? I do know that those users also have REM rebound after long periods of marijuana use, which isn't surprising.
Maybe someday we'll have a better understanding of how REM sleep functions.
REM sleep: CON DS make-up
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Considering so many college students are sleep deprived, REM rebound is a necessity for health. I think it would be very interesting though if there were ways to induce REM sleep so that every time you go to bed you wake up as refreshed as ever, no matter the amount of sleep. I also think that our natural sleep cycle affects REM sleep, considering so many night workers experience more fatigue than day workers.
It would be interesting to see how REM sleep works with someone's circadian rhythm. I know that for those who work night shifts, they often have fatigue because sleeping during the daytime hours goes against the circadian rhythm often set by sunlight. This sleep loss can cause medical problems.
I think that we can conclude that sleep, REM sleep in particular, is an extremely important aspect of survival. I think it would be interesting to also see if the time of day someone sleeps has an effect on their REM cycle, for example is the REM cycle of someone who works overnight shifts and has to sleep during the day different from that of someone with a normal schedule?