# Sleep and Dreams > Sleep and Health >  >  Does being woken up re-set your sleep cycle?

## cuddleyperson

Ok basically what I mean is when they say you need 8 hours sleep, people mean falling asleep at say 11:00pm and waking up at 7:00am right?

Now I know when you first fall asleep there's REM sleep for a while and stuff before you get into proper deep sleep. I assume it's the deep sleep your body needs the most, just not 8 hours of it?

What I'm actually asking is say REM takes two hours(no idea how long it takes) and I'm actually in deep sleep after that. If I'm woken up by say a noise or my cat wanting in my room ::roll::  but then go straight back to bed after say 30 seconds and fall to sleep again do i have to go right through that two hour REM period or does your body fall back into deep sleep much quicker because you were not conscience for long?

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## Paradox-db3

You should continue with your current stage of sleep, I believe.  If you were in REM sleep, you should slip right back into it without having to go throught the other stages first.  I think the DEILD method used the principal that you will slip back into REM sleep after waking up from a dream.

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## Pride

After waking 5 hours into sleep and waiting 5 hours before i went back to sleep
i went almost straight into R.E.M

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## The Subatomic Level

> After waking 5 hours into sleep and waiting 5 hours before i went back to sleep
> i went almost straight into R.E.M



No offense Pride, but almost doesnt sound too convincing.  ::D:  Even if you were absolutely sure you went straight into REM sleep it would be impossible to know with out being hooked up to equipment that can detect the stage of sleep you are in.  

Cuddleyperson,

There are 5 stages of sleep, the fifth being REM sleep.  A complete cycle of sleep would start with being awake then going through stage 1 sleep and eventually ending at stage 5 (REM) after which one normally wakes for a very short time and never remembers it.  

As far as I know, the theory is that as you get further and further into your sleep for the night you transition through the stages of sleep in each cycle faster and end up with more REM sleep later in the night.  There are many who believe that because the first few cycles of sleep are mainly comprised of slow wave sleep (stage 3 & 4 or deep sleep as you previously mentioned) they are the most important stages of sleep.  

In other words, If you can only sleep 3 or 4 hours, you will at least get most of the slow wave sleep you would normally get.  REM sleep is still considered very important, and by your 5th or 6th cycle of sleep in a night you are mainly getting REM sleep.  

I agree with Paradox that if it is a short awakening of 30 seconds or so, you will most likely end up right back in whatever stage and sleep cycle and stage you were previously in.  

What about being up for 5 minutes though, would that change the results?  It's tough to tell and could depend on a lot of variables.  Were you groggy while you sat in bed like a zombie for 5 minutes and then returned to sleep?  If so you will prolly start where you left off.

So what would re-set the sleep cycle?  Maybe being up for 5 minutes, jumping in the shower really quick, eating a quick snack, and doing something mentally taxing like a quick soduko puzzle would be enough to re-set the cycle.  

It's probably different for everyone, but LDers who WBTB sometimes stay up for half an hour or a full hour before they attempt a WILD.  They can make it back into REM sleep in a relatively short amount of time.  It could be a result of very quick transitions to REM sleep.

Great question, wish I could give you a clearer answer.

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## cuddleyperson

wow thanks for that answer, lol i got REM the wrong way round then it's not first. I was also thinking if you fall back to sleep after only being up all grogy for like 30 seconds you probably go back into deep sleep.

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## O'nus

The body requires at least 4 cycles of sleep for appropriate energy levels.  The average amount of sleep is around 7.5 hours of sleep but all the body actually needs is about 5.5 sleep hours.

Each cycle of sleep requires around 90 minutes.  

90*4=360
360/60=6

So, it seems more intuitive to say we ought to need 6 hours of sleep, but studies support that 5.5 is the very least that people can mostly get by on.  There are many exceptions, of course, but this is the significant norm.  

Interrupting your sleep requires that you bring yourself out of the cycle.  This is simply done by awakening in any sense that you really think about it.  However, if you are sleeping for more than 5 hours, it will likely not matter at all as they are, more or less, additional cycles of sleep.  This is primarily measured by electroencephalograms (EEG) and their discrepancy between brain wave patterns.  With each associated brain wave pattern via EEG we can identify the brain wave identity (ie. beta, delta, etc.).  Once the EEG comes out of delta, it will restart the cycle and likewise from other waves.  There are cases of NREM awakening that can maintain your sleep cycle.  This is likely what you were thinking of mentioning to me while reading this  :wink2: 

I hope this has been enlightening.

~

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## The Subatomic Level

Lots of interesting information onus.  Do you know of any good sites to look up more information about when you will restart a sleep cycle and when you wont after waking?

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## O'nus

> Lots of interesting information onus.  Do you know of any good sites to look up more information about when you will restart a sleep cycle and when you wont after waking?



The internet is notoriously bad for good websites on any scientific medium.  I can try to scrounge some up but I advise searching for "circadian rhythm" and somnambulisms, sleep disorders, etc.  For the most part, I would rely on books (eg. Biopsychology by Pinel).

~

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## The Subatomic Level

okay, thanks.  I have access to hundreds of online journals via online university access.  I'll start there.

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## Skydreamer707

so then if im following, your sleep cycle DOES restart if you stay up for say 30min doing a WBTB? then whats the point of a WBTB? because since your sleep cycle restarts, you wouldnt be about to enter REM right? which is the whole point of WBTB  ::shock::  waking up right before your REM period. im so confused....

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## O'nus

> okay, thanks.  I have access to hundreds of online journals via online university access.  I'll start there.



http://www.jneurosci.org/searchall 

~

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## Koalaman

> so then if im following, your sleep cycle DOES restart if you stay up for say 30min doing a WBTB? then whats the point of a WBTB? because since your sleep cycle restarts, you wouldnt be about to enter REM right? which is the whole point of WBTB  waking up right before your REM period. im so confused....



Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I hope someone can clear this up.

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## The Subatomic Level

The point of a WBTB is that you have already slept for 4-6 hours and have plenty of mostly non-REM sleep prior to attempting the WBTB.  When you fall asleep you will not enter REM directly, but you will transition through the different stages of sleep much faster.  Instead of having to sleep for 70 minutes to get to REM, one may be able to get to REM sleep in as little as 5-10 minutes.  The transition happens so fast, and that is why people are able to perform a WILD and stay aware while they are transitioning through the stages of sleep prior to REM.

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