What Sleep Is and Why All Kids Need It
What to Do if You Can't Sleep
As you're drifting off to sleep, it doesn't seem like much is happening . . . the room is getting fuzzy and your eyelids feel heavier and heavier. But what happens next? A lot!
Your brain swings into action, telling your body how to sleep. As you slowly fall asleep, you begin to enter the five different stages of sleep:
Stage 1
In this stage, your brain gives the signal to your muscles to relax. It also tells your heart to beat a little slower, and your body temperature drops a bit.
Stage 2
After a little while, you enter stage 2, which is a light sleep. You can still be woken up easily during this stage. For example, if your sister pokes you or you hear a car horn outside, you'll probably wake up.
Stage 3
When you're in this stage, you're in a deeper sleep, also called slow-wave sleep. Your brain sends a message to your blood pressure to get lower. Your body isn't sensitive to the temperature of the air around you, which means that you won't notice if it's a little hot or cold in your room. It's much harder to be awakened when you're in this stage, but some people may sleepwalk or talk in their sleep at this point.
Stage 4
This is the deepest sleep yet and is also considered slow-wave sleep. It's very hard to wake up from this stage of sleep, and if you do wake up, you're sure to be out of it and confused for at least a few minutes. Like they do in stage 3, some people may sleepwalk or talk in their sleep when going from stage 4 to a lighter stage of sleep.
REM
This stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Even though the muscles in the rest of your body are totally relaxed, your eyes move back and forth very quickly beneath your eyelids. The REM stage is when your heart beats faster and your breathing is less regular. This is also the stage when people dream!
While you're asleep, you repeat stages 2, 3, 4, and REM about every 90 minutes until you wake up in the morning. For most kids, that's about four or five times a night. Who said sleep was boring?
