Hi.
For a long time I've been pondering a sleep-related problem. I wish there was someone who could shed some light on the subject. The problem is this:
Let's say I go to bed at 0-00 and sleep for three hours and a quarter (which corresponds to 2 full sleep cycles: stages 1 through 3 of Non-REM sleep and REM sleep). I wake up, stay awake for a half hour, then go to sleep again. Now:
- What happens when I fall asleep again? Since I spent some time being awake again (the body could logically assume that I'm done sleeping for the night), is the entire process going to start again? I mean... Let me explain.
During the first full sleep cycle, there is little REM sleep, like 5 or 10 minutes. In the next cycle it is expanded (after which I wake up and stay awake for a half hour). If I didn't wake up, yet another cycle would occur with still more REM sleep, maybe 20-25 minutes.
- But, since I disrupted the continuity of the cycles, is my mind going to start over, beginning again with the cycle with the least REM sleep?
- Or, is it somehow going to know where it left off, pick up there and continue with the third cycle where there's about 20-25 minutes of REM sleep?
If someone could help me out with this, I would be very grateful.
Cheers
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