How Much REM Sleep Do You Need?

Because your brain is virtually as busy in rapid eye movement sleep as it is while you’re awake, this is when you’ll have the most dreams. A section of your brain also sends signals to paralyze your arms and legs as a preventative effort to prevent you from acting out your fantasies (REM sleep behavior disorder). Because of this, REM sleep is also known as paradoxical sleep. Let’s learn the answer to “How much rem sleep do you need” below.

What Happens If You Don’t Get Enough REM Sleep?

If you are asking “How much rem sleep should I get”, first look at the lack of rem sleep. Not having enough REM sleep, as discussed below, might impair your brain’s capacity to learn and develop new memories.

Furthermore, since the bulk of your REM sleep occurs at the end of your night in bed (and following deep sleep, which your brain and body prioritize when you need to catch up on sleep), a lack of REM sleep is often a marker of sleep deprivation. Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, dementia, depression, cardiovascular disease, and cancer have all been related to chronic sleep deprivation.

Insufficient REM sleep has also been linked to migraines, and several medical problems (such as sleep apnea) have been shown to affect it negatively.

How Much REM Sleep Should You Have?

How much REM sleep should you get, then? You may be asking, “How much rem sleep do I need?” You enter REM sleep for the first time approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep, and it lasts about 10 minutes. You’ll have 3-5 REM cycles every night on average, with each episode becoming longer as the night goes on. The last one might take up to an hour.

Spending 20-25 percent of your sleep duration in the REM state is a desirable target for healthy individuals. If you sleep for 7-8 hours, 90 minutes of it should be REM sleep.

The usual quantity of REM sleep decreases with age, starting in childhood (when it may account for more than half of total sleep duration) and continuing throughout maturity. Whatever you can do to enhance your sleep patterns and behaviors will help you achieve more REM sleep in the long run. Attempting to spend more time in bed is the first step. Two main elements stand out when it comes to increasing REM sleep. The first is what we call sleep consistency, which is going to bed and getting up at the same time every day (or a sleep schedule as close to that as possible).