REM sleep REM sleep (Dream sleep) – About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Eyes move rapidly. Breathing is shallow. Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Arm and leg muscles are paralyzed. Just as deep sleep renews the body, REM sleep renews the mind. REM sleep plays a key role in learning and memory. During REM sleep, your brain consolidates and processes the information you’ve learned during the day, forms neural connections that strengthen memory, and replenishes its supply of neurotransmitters, including feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine that boost your mood during the day.View full size

REM sleep

REM sleep (Dream sleep) – About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Eyes move rapidly. Breathing is shallow. Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Arm and leg muscles are paralyzed.

Just as deep sleep renews the body, REM sleep renews the mind. REM sleep plays a key role in learning and memory. During REM sleep, your brain consolidates and processes the information you’ve learned during the day, forms neural connections that strengthen memory, and replenishes its supply of neurotransmitters, including feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine that boost your mood during the day.
During REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in a brain chemical associated with stress. Reprocessing difficult memories in such an environment makes coping with them easier.  Published in Current Biology, the study offers some of the first insights into the emotional function of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which typically takes up 20 percent of a healthy human’s sleeping hours. Previous brain studies indicate that sleep patterns are disrupted in people with mood disorders such as PTSD and depression. The research unlocks many of the mysteries linking sleep to learning, memory, and mood regulation—and shows the importance of the REM dream state. Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.View full size

During REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in a brain chemical associated with stress. Reprocessing difficult memories in such an environment makes coping with them easier. 

Published in Current Biology, the study offers some of the first insights into the emotional function of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which typically takes up 20 percent of a healthy human’s sleeping hours. Previous brain studies indicate that sleep patterns are disrupted in people with mood disorders such as PTSD and depression.

The research unlocks many of the mysteries linking sleep to learning, memory, and mood regulation—and shows the importance of the REM dream state.

Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.