Sleep Vs. NREM Sleep

Most, if not all individuals know how great it feels to sleep. We get home from a long, strenuous day and all we want to do is go to bed. Humans have a circadian rhythm, which means that our bodies naturally keep track of our eating patterns, physical activity, and sleep patterns. When it's time for us to go to sleep, we can enter into the the first stage of Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep. The sleep cycle begins with NREM stages 1 through 4 and then REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, follows. NREM has delta waves and is also called slow wave sleep whereas REM is quicker (NCBI). Each stage has its own physiological duty, such as decreased renal activity, and increased respiratory functions during REM sleep. It's understood that these two cycles …show more content…
Newborns and infants sleep about 16 to 18 hours a day that’s spread out evenly across day and night in 2 to 4 hour increments for several weeks. Their circadian rhythm has not been fully developed yet but usually begins to appear around 2 to 3 months of age. This is because the 24 hour core body temperature cycle develops at 1 month, nocturnal sleep at 2 months, and cycles of melatonin and cortisol begin at 3 months. At the end of these three months, REM sleep decreases and shifts to the end of a cycle. By 6 months, sleep time is slightly reduced and they can sleep in 6 hour increments. By a year old, they sleep 14 to 15 hours, a majority of that at night with naps within the day …show more content…
In adulthood, men spend a greater time in stage 1 sleep and tend to wake up more during the night than women do. Women maintain slow-wave sleep (stages 3 and 4) longer than men. However, women complain more often about falling asleep or restlessness whereas men complain more with daytime tiredness. In women, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause cause a shift in hormones, and this impacts the sleep-wake cycle. During pregnancy and menopause their daytime tiredness increases (NCBI). As we fast forward to old age, the slow-wave or deep sleep stage decreases. This more likely affects men because men ages 70 and up only spend 5% of total sleep time in slow-wave sleep. Older women ages 70 and up spend 15 to 20% in slow wave sleep. Women tend to go to bed and wake up earlier than older men, which means that warmer body temperatures occur earlier in older women while they sleep. Sleep patterns are affected by age, race, marital status, employment status, and gender but they are also affected by sleep

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