Re: Is there something wrong with my sleep cycle? (graph included)

12padams · Post by **12padams** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:06 pm

I found an app which is able to monitor your sleep cycles. It makes a graph and shows when you are in REM, light sleep or deep sleep. my graph shows that I have long REM cycles at the beginning of the night which progressively become shorter as time goes on. I have read however that it should be the other way round. Your rem cycles should become increasingly longer as morning approaches.

My question is what could be causing this and how will it affect my ability to enter the phase?

I have included my sleep cycle graph below:

CKing71 · Post by **CKing71** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:50 pm

I'm not too sure about REM becoming longer as one becomes more awake toward morning. Your graph seems correct to me, in this light. Rhetorical: Don't we come out of REM as we awake? So wouldn't the cycles slow to a stop as we awaken.
Perhaps slowing down doesn't mean shorter cycles, it may mean fewer cycles.

Be Well

Th3TruthizInThere · Post by **Th3TruthizInThere** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:38 pm

According to the SOBT, yes, there is something that is not right about the sleep patterns (assuming that the App is accurate- OR the Dark areas are the actual graph and the light areas are just the spaces between) The graph in SOBT describes that in the first cycles of sleep, the greatest amounts of time are in the deepest levels of NREM sleep, decreasing in depth with each approximate 90 minute cycle. So that after 4 cycles, NREM is getting pretty much satisfied so only REM remains, which is where we hit the phase.

I would definitely check to make sure the App is working and being interpreted correctly and see if there really is an anomaly here. What is this App anyway? I've been concerned about my own sleep patterns...

12padams · Post by **12padams** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:35 am

Th3TruthizInThere wrote: What is this App anyway? I've been concerned about my own sleep patterns...

Wow this is so long ago I don't even remember... Um try looking at my "entering the phase" book which has the full story then do a search query for "sleep cycle" or something like that and you should find the name of the app (that picture is also in the book). I have tried a variety of different sleep analyzers so I really can't remember which one it was. If you ever need to know anything I've done you have always got that "entering the phase" book to trace everything...

Post by **Summerlander** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:30 pm

There seems to be something very wrong with that graph. Here's something from SOBT, page 209 (it also includes a proper diagram of sleep cycles):

"The more we sleep, the less the body needs deep NREM sleep, and the more time we spend in REM sleep. Phase entrance is most likely to occur during REM sleep.

The time-space between REM phase periods appears near accurate though. Approximately 70-90 minutes after sleep onset, we enter REM for the first time of the night. REM will last 5-10 minutes (your graph appears to misrepresent this on the first cycle - anomalous/unreliable app me thinks!) and sometimes there is a brief awakening. In fact, we briefly awake many times throughout the night but typically don't remember it.

Anyway, what matters is that you are still able to enter the phase which you are. I don't think there is anything abnormal about your sleeping. Here is something to bear in mind from LaBerge's "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming":

"While learning and practising lucid dreaming you should keep in mind two elaborations on this cycle: (1) the length of the REM periods increase as the night proceeds (note that SOBT concurs)and (2) the intervals between REM periods decrease with time of night, from ninety minutes at the beginning of the night to perhaps only twenty to thirty minutes eight hours later."

I hope this helps 12padams!

Oh, here's a graph which is more like it. Notice the REM periods!