It's only in the last 25 years we have really learned anything about sleep and that applies to a part called REM sleep as well.  About an hour and a half after you fall asleep your brainwaves start to change and you go into what is called REM sleep.

When you are in REM sleep your eyelids flicker and this is where the name comes from, that is,  Rapid Eye Movement.  Other things happen too like your breathing increases, your heart rate and blood pressure also increases and a state similar to when you are faced with a danger.

Have you ever had a dream about being in danger but you were paralyzed with fear?  You couldn't move, let alone run away.  Well, during REM sleep the large body muscles are paralyzed and this usually occurs in the middle of the night and in the morning and luckily the feelings usually should have subsided by then.

So if you dream you are somehow in danger but it frightens you that you couldn't move and you worry that if it really happens you would do the same then now you know it was the REM that was immobilizing you and not your fear.

There are five cycles of REM in a sleep episode and you will go in and out of them during the night which in total is around 7 hours.  So if you thought you just closed your eyes and you fell asleep then you are in fact going through many cycles of sleep in one night.

Oh and for a bit of trivia, snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep.  Happy dreams

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