10 Things Happening To Your Body When You’re Asleep

Once we drift off to sleep, we face 8 hours of dreams and rest, to wake up feeling rejuvenated with little to no memory of the many hours that we lay unconscious. Here’s all the bizarre things our body goes through when we catch some Zzz’s.

1. First, we begin our sleep in a non-REM stage, known as the N1 stage. This progresses to the deeper N3 stage, where our minds gradually become less responsive to stimuli around us, making it harder to wake up, and slowing all functions down.

2. Half of our night is spent in the N2 or in between phase, which is where scientists believe long term memories are filed away.

3. Then, you hit the REM stage. Your eyes dart back and forth rapidly, and pulse, temperature and breathing levels readjust to daytime levels. While your body remains still, your sympathetic nervous system is lit up.

4. Our bodies undergo the sleep stages up to five times a night. REM sleep only lasts for a few minutes, but gets longer with each cycle, until it reaches a 30 minute duration.