Sleep Cycles and Dream Sleep

Understanding Sleep Cycles

What happens when we are asleep?

Most people do not give much thought to what happens when they are asleep. They go to bed, fall asleep and then wake up in the morning refreshed and ready for the new day. If they are lucky they can remember having a dream, and that’s about as far as sleep goes for a lot of people.

What most people do not realize is that a night’s sleep consists of several different phases. Now some people may say at this point, “Who cares how we sleep, get onto the lucid dreaming bit” but surprisingly it can be very beneficial to have knowledge of sleep processes as this will, in the long run aid with your efforts to have a lucid dream. Any knowledge acquired will filter down into your subconscious and over time will assist you.

Sleep patterns

When we sleep, we experience several distinct phases of sleep. One of these phases is the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase. It is so called because when you enter the REM phase, a noticeable rapid movement of the eyes can be observed by an onlooker. This is believed to be when we do all of our dreaming.

The chart below shows the different phases of sleep as recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG) of a subject’s brain activity.

Sleep Cycles – Dream Sleep

As you can see, the REM phase which is at stage 5 of sleep exhibits similar EEG recordings to that of wakefulness.

Interestingly when taking these measurements, other factors like facial muscle tone have to be taken into consideration to differentiate between when a person is in REM or if they are wide awake.

Stage 1 is a transition stage between drowsiness and light sleep. Often a sleeper will see slight hypnagogic imagery. These are like mini-dreams that only last for a fleeting moment. You may have experienced these when falling asleep. You will normally pass quickly to Stage 2.

Stage 2 is what we would term as normal sleep. Here the brainwave patterns show characteristic “spindles” and “K-Complexes”. There is often very little mental activity in this stage.

Stage 3 After about half an hour, you sink into what is termed as “delta sleep”. As you can see from the chart, you will produce large slow brain waves that are characteristic of this quiet sleep phase. You will gradually move into Stage 4 sleep which is a deeper delta state.

After thirty or forty minutes of Stage 4 you will come back to Stage 2 sleep until after approximately ninety minutes after sleep onset, you will enter Stage 5 which is the REM phase. After staying in the REM phase for ten minutes, you re-enter Stage 2 sleep and maybe Stages 3 and 4 until coming up for another REM phase. This pattern repeats for the duration of the night with only one marked difference. As the night progresses, the REM phases become longer and the intervals between the REM phases become shorter. After five or six phases of REM sleep, you will wake up.

As you will see in the next section, the ability to understand when we have REM sleep and are therefore dreaming will help with attaining lucidity in our dreams.

Leave a Comment at the Bottom of the Page. Older Archived Comments are Below…
A Dreamer
Saturday, 25 June 2011 06:58
Christopher Wetzel

I dream all the time sometimes a little too much. I wake up to use the rest room when I return I am able to return back to the same exact place in my dream I left off.
I have learned to control my dreams meaning I enter-act in my dreams. I am able to make my own choice. I dream in color, I smell, and I am able to taste in my dreams. I have been sleeping about 12 hours a day. I dream through out the whole 12 period. I have seen place that does not yet exist. I have been in wars movies races you name it I have done it in my dream. I have been put in the historic days and seen the end. Still waiting far a device that can record our dreams.

hypnagogic imagery?
Friday, 01 October 2010 12:48
Stormrush

On falling asleep but still awake, I see floaters, big or small. I now try to touch them out of sheer boredom now, used to be petrified of them, some do still get me now!! My question is… I would really like to give Lucid Dreaming a go now I’m not scared, but will these images I see prevent that, I have had sleep paralysis once about 2 years ago and saw a bald headed man with no face, Hope I never see him again, but really really want to try Lucid Dreaming Help!! !xx

weird
Monday, 16 August 2010 18:56
alissa

what is you have those dreams that you are another person but yet your body is there to… or when you have a dream were someone kisses you and it feels so real

Response to Sarah’s “leg twitching/bed tipping” question
Friday, 28 May 2010 13:24
TJ Lane

Sarah, most pre-teens and teenagers are diagnosed with restless leg syndrome. This can cause extravagant twitches in various parts of the body during the first phases of sleep. This is completely normal and you will likely grow out of it eventually. As for the bed tipping thing…. you are likely already dreaming when this happens…. recognize it and become lucid girl!

different
Monday, 10 May 2010 21:46
sarah

also, I had a dream where i realized i was dreaming and said to myself “hey this is a dream” and woke up. I also had a dream where i tried to wake myself up but couldn’t my mind was saying hey wake up but i just couldn’t open my eyes P.S. may be a possibility it was my mom

Yeah
Monday, 10 May 2010 21:40
sarah

when i used to get that dream i could see me in my bed and like i was spinning slowly in something that was a black and white spiral and looked like something you would use to hypnotize someone in a movie (it happened when i was 5 I’m 11 now and still remember it

dreams, i guess
Friday, 23 April 2010 18:40
Miron

i keep having dreams wherein i can control myself or well kind of the main character but not to a big extent, i can will him to do something but thats it, Although i don´t really do anything to get these dreams, is that any closer to lucidity? (its almost as if there is a scenario playing out in my head or i´m watching a film)

sarah response
Monday, 12 October 2009 23:29
Dream lover

about the random tipping/swirling, i used to have it then it just dissapeared. I have heard it is something to do with the inner ear, but it never caused me any trouble.

none
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 23:18
sarah

well i know when it wakes me up but not consciencely while asleep

@Sarah
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 12:55
Andrew Strachan (Admin)
Hi Sarah,

What you describe as a leg twitch is quite a common pheonomena. You can find out more about it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk

A lot of your other experiences sound like hypnogogic imagery. This can happen with sleep onset aswell as waking.

Take a look here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogic

The good thing is that you seem aware of your conscious state whether falling asleep or starting to wake. This is a good sign that you will succeed at lucid dreaming given enough practice.

question
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 02:10
sarah

hi, (1)sometimes when i start to fall asleep I do see short vivid dreamsbut also in the middle of it my leg twitches and wakes me up it like hops and is weird. (2) sometimes when I am about to wake up I dream that I am in a black and white spiral in my bed and I can feel myself moving and other times when I first start to go to sleep I can feel my bed tipping over and moving but there is not a picture (note:the ones labeled 2 have not happened in a while) do you think you might know why this happens?

question
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 00:23
v0ltage

hello, your site has been most helpfull,,, although I still havent had a compleat lucid dream yet,
I wanted to ask about the WILD technique, youve never actually posted anything about it, I would really like to know more about it, particularly exact instructions… email me