The Necessity and Important Roles of Sleep
Non REM sleep and REM sleep
Why do we sleep? In animal experiments, if animals are left without sleep for a long period of time, they eventually die. If you keep a person awake for a long time, they will fall asleep before they die. From these things, we can see that sleep is indispensable for us.
In recent years, it has become clear that sleep not only allows the brain and body to rest, but also plays many important roles, such as organizing and consolidating memory, regulating the autonomic nervous system, regulating hormone balance, improving immunity, and removing waste products from the brain.
On the other hand, sleep is called REM sleep, which is named after the rapid eye movement (Rapid Eye Movement), and sleep that does not involve eye movement.
It is classified into two types: nonREM sleep.
DifferDifferences Between Non-REM Sleep and REM Sleepences Between Non-REM Sleep and REM Sleep
When you fall asleep, you first enter light non-REM sleep, then gradually become deep non-REM sleep. During non-REM sleep, brain activity decreases, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows the body to rest, becomes dominant and the whole body's metabolism slows down. This non-REM sleep lasts 60 to 90 minutes.
After that, your sleep becomes light once, and the first REM sleep appears. During REM sleep, both input and output to the brain are blocked, and the brain is more active than when awake. In this state, if you don't isolate your brain from the outside world, your body's functions will go out of control and you'll start moving while you're asleep. During REM sleep, the autonomic nervous system is in a state where parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves are active alternately.
The general sleep pattern is that the above NREM sleep and REM sleep form one set (60 to 110 minutes), and repeat 4 or 5 times a night.
Recently, the role of non-REM sleep is becoming clearer. It is becoming clear that during non-REM sleep, the synapses that have increased too much during waking hours are organized to optimize the network, and cerebrospinal fluid is circulated to remove waste products. In other words, it has been found that memory consolidation and waste products are removed during non-REM sleep.
On the other hand, it has been revealed that during REM sleep, information is replayed in the brain. In other words, it is thought that memories are organized and consolidated even during REM sleep.
Therefore, both NREM sleep and REM sleep are thought to be involved in organizing and consolidating learning memories.
Scientific Explanation of Sleep Paralysis
Scientific explanation of kinshibari
Have you ever experienced money bondage? Some of you may have had the experience of your body becoming stiff and unable to move while you were sleeping, and when you timidly opened the door to find a stranger standing there. In fact, this bondage can be explained scientifically.
During REM sleep, both input and output to the brain are blocked, and the brain is more active than when awake.
During REM sleep, muscle activity is completely relaxed because the connection to the brain is cut off, but if only your eyes wake up during this time, it is thought that sleep paralysis occurs. Also, because we often have scary dreams during REM sleep, some people have scary imaginations.
Kanashibari is easily triggered by stress and an irregular lifestyle such as staying up late or working night shifts, and it is also known that it occurs more often in young people and is more likely to occur when sleeping on your back.
Therefore, it is never a physical or mental abnormality that occurs. In the first place, during REM sleep, the brain is active and the skeletal muscles are relaxed, so it is inevitable that a state of restraint will be created.
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