Thread: Are The Rem Periods For Everyone The Same?

is it like, the younger you are, the earlier your REM periods occur or something? there has to be some scientific explanation of how age varies your sleep cycles. i know REM periods are shorter for the elderly and when your a baby they are very long.

If I remember correctly, older people need less REM sleep, so they go through the cycles faster becuase the stages are shorter.

idk lol

idk lol[/b]

Well that was the most useful post I've ever seen.

And no, REM periods are not the same for everybody. As 'Bizzle noted, elderly people need less REM sleep than younger people.

However, as all rules do, this has several exceptions. No two people's REM needs or phases are similar. Most people enter the densest REM phases five hours after going to sleep, but some hit that point after two hours. Individual variation is especially high.

And that's not to mention people with sleep disorders - which is fairly common nowadays.

Yeah, REM periods vary from person to person, even of the same age. Though the general formula is every 90 minutes, People's REM period lengths can vary significantly from that. Though I am not sure I think mine are every 70-80 minutes, and some people's are probably more frequent, or for that matter much less frequent. If you want to wake yourself up during your REM period you'll have to finetune it, and figure out when they are for yourself, as just as everyone looks different, everyone enters REM at different times too.

Originally Posted by PenguinLord13

Yeah, REM periods vary from person to person, even of the same age. Though the general formula is every 90 minutes, People's REM period lengths can vary significantly from that. Though I am not sure I think mine are every 70-80 minutes, and some people's are probably more frequent, or for that matter much less frequent. If you want to wake yourself up during your REM period you'll have to finetune it, and figure out when they are for yourself, as just as everyone looks different, everyone enters REM at different times too.
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That seems like it would be hard to figure out. I wonder if it at least regular from one night to the next in the same person. How did you figure out how far apart yours are?

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

That seems like it would be hard to figure out. I wonder if it at least regular from one night to the next in the same person. How did you figure out how far apart yours are?[/b]

I think they are very similar in length for the same person, though they get longer towards the morning (but same spacing from start of period to start of next period) but they do vary between people as I said. I basically just estimated my times from random waking ups I had, and I don't know mine that well (more than 70 less than 90 mins), but think the best way to figure out your REM periods is to set an alarm for a few hours after you go to bed to play a soft sound that won't jar you awake in deep sleep, but will be enough to bring you to awakening in REM sleep, and do this a few times until you find your spacings.