| | Are you a light or heavy sleeper?Page 1 of 1 | I used to think I was a light sleeper and that any little noise would wake me up.
Until I got up this morning and discovered that my son had got up last night and made himself almost a complete meal, and I didn't hear a thing.............. *my son is one of the worlds noisest children* so I was very surprised that I had slept thorough his late night/early morning cooking session.............
So when it's time for  are you one of those people, who it takes an earthquake to wake up, or do you wake at the sound of a pin dropping miles away...........? | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 2:43:07 AM | Don't we go through different phases of sleep ?
taken from : http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/sleep/stage.htm
As we fall asleep, we enter the transition sleep called stage 1 and begin our first "sleep cycle". Within a few minutes we evolve into our "baseline" sleep called stage 2. It is from stage 2 sleep that the other three stages emerge. Stage 2 sleep occupies approximately 50-65% of our sleep time. Within 15-20 minutes we have slowly evolved into stage 3 then stage 4 sleep, often called delta sleep or slow wave sleep because of the very high voltage, slow brain waves. Delta sleep is similar to being in a coma, but unlike a coma, it's reversible. As we transverse these first four stages of sleep our respiration and heart rate slow and the body is almost immobile. All of a sudden, after 20-30 minutes of slow wave sleep, we lighten into stage 2 and almost immediately change gears into very active brain wave pattern known as paradoxical or REM sleep. Simultaneous with this dive into REM, our respiration and heart rate increases substantially and we loose our ability to use our postural or skeletal muscles.
Along with this, our brain becomes so activated that we start to hallucinate and have what we call dreams. Our eyes move down to midline, just as in wakefulness, and they begin the move sporadically, many times in relation to what we are dreaming. In effect, we are a highly activated brain in a paralyzed body. This paradoxical state will last 10-20 minutes and then we "fall" back down into stage 2 again. This is the end of a sleep cycle and then it all starts over again, except we gradually loose our delta sleep and replace it with longer and longer periods of alternating stage 2 and REM sleep. By the final sleep cycle of the night, we will spend approximately half our time in stage 2 and half in REM.
Since having children I always considered myself to be a much lighter sleeper than when I was a teenager or in my twenties though. Every little noise seems to wake me but having read the above I realise that I probably do get some 'quality' sleep on occassion and am properly dead to the world. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 3:21:19 AM | Strangely enough it depends how tired when I go to bed if any noise wakes me up when I am sleeping.
Pam xx | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 4:43:44 AM | I'm a very heavy sleeper. There's not much that will wake me once my head hits that pillow & I'm glad!
I love my bed & sleep far to much to have it disturbed by the slightest noises!
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 6:20:49 AM | Sadly, I suffer from fibromyalgia. One of the symptoms of this is little or no sleep. Despite being exhausted most of the time, on average I exist on 3 hours a night. Obviously there are periods when I get a little more, but these are always followed by periods of less sleep, despite sleeping pills or anti depressants used to aid sleep.
For example, over the chrismas period I stayed with friends, & sleep very well by my standards, yet since I returned home have once again returned to very little. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 6:27:03 AM | As we fall asleep, we enter the transition sleep called stage 1 and begin our first "sleep cycle". Within a few minutes we evolve into our "baseline" sleep called stage 2. It is from stage 2 sleep that the other three stages emerge. Stage 2 sleep occupies approximately 50-65% of our sleep time. Within 15-20 minutes we have slowly evolved into stage 3 then stage 4 sleep, often called delta sleep or slow wave sleep because of the very high voltage, slow brain waves. Delta sleep is similar to being in a coma, but unlike a coma, it's reversible. As we transverse these first four stages of sleep our respiration and heart rate slow and the body is almost immobile. All of a sudden, after 20-30 minutes of slow wave sleep, we lighten into stage 2 and almost immediately change gears into very active brain wave pattern known as paradoxical or REM sleep. Simultaneous with this dive into REM, our respiration and heart rate increases substantially and we loose our ability to use our postural or skeletal muscles.
Along with this, our brain becomes so activated that we start to hallucinate and have what we call dreams. Our eyes move down to midline, just as in wakefulness, and they begin the move sporadically, many times in relation to what we are dreaming. In effect, we are a highly activated brain in a paralyzed body. This paradoxical state will last 10-20 minutes and then we "fall" back down into stage 2 again. This is the end of a sleep cycle and then it all starts over again, except we gradually loose our delta sleep and replace it with longer and longer periods of alternating stage 2 and REM sleep. By the final sleep cycle of the night, we will spend approximately half our time in stage 2 and half in REM.
Men have one stage further in the sleep process, the final stage, we have erotic dreams and wake with a woody! Then have to have unerotic thoughts before we can relieve our bladders! | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 6:30:48 AM | Always very deeply for approx 2 to 4 hours then, even the dog scratching outside the door can wake me up...
However it does have its uses, son has paper round at 6am and daughter leaves for work at 5am, so I get to say goodbye to them both, and spend the next 2 hours dozing or watching Roswell.. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 10:04:05 AM | | I usually wake at the drop of a pin. It used to annoy my son when he tried to sneak girls in the house, lol. Occasionally I sleep very soundly and I'm amazed when my daughter tells me what she did in the early hours that I didnt hear. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 10:08:03 AM | I think that im a light sleeper but actually im not, i often wake up with my son in my bed and i never heard him come in
I also snore, i was accused of it the other day, i asked if it was a delicate girly snore, and was told that much as they would like to report it sounded like tiny birds tweeting i actually sounded more like a wild boar in the forest - charming!!!! | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 10:19:33 AM | I'm a very heavy sleeper, nothing will wake me up once I'm dead to the world.
My bed is one of my favourite places and there's nothing going to ruin it for me. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 10:39:14 AM | | I would say that I am a light sleeper, I hear most things, and wake quite easily. I think this has got worse since I have been on my own. Now if (and its a big if) I do have someone else in the bed with me I tend not to sleep very well. However, the other night I received a text message on my phone in the middle of the night and it didnt wake me, even though, normally, I would be wide awake in an instant, so I must have slept heavily that night. | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/8/2008 10:54:49 AM | I'm a very light sleeper, and i hate it, my ex partner used to snore and god it was nightmare, now i'm single and still wake at the slightest thing,, | |
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| Are you a light or heavy sleeper?
Posted: 1/27/2008 3:29:45 PM | | when i fall asleep i dont even move,i wake up in exactly the same position as i climbed into bed.i can sleep through an earthquake, when we had the brixton riots a few years ago i slept right through and did not hear a thing, i was gutted could have done with a new telly. | |
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