During sleep we pass through stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM sleep. Stage 1 is light sleep, where we drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. The eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows as the body relaxes. People awakened from this stage frequently remember fragmented visual images. People often jump when they are awakened from this stage because of sudden muscle contractions called hypnic myoclonia, followed by a sensation of starting to fall. 50% of all sleep time is spent in stage 2. Eye movements stop and brain waves become slower with occasional bursts of rapid waves called spindles. In Stage 3 brain waves become even slower and are called Delta waves. It is difficult to wake someone during this stage and stage 4. In stage 4 the brain produces mostly delta wave

s and there is no muscle activity. People awakened during this stage often feel groggy and disoriented and are not fully alert until several minutes later. Some children experience bed wetting or sleep walking during this stage because they are so deep in sleep that they are not consciously aware of what they are doing. Newborns have a different sleep pattern. For them sleep begins with REM sleep. Their period of Non-REM sleep is 50-60 min long, the percentage of REM is much longer than Non-REM (Latner).

What people dream about has a lot to do with what's going on in their lives. For example, if you're having a conflict with a friend, it will show up in your dream. Dreams contain information in our daily lives, defined by distortions, condensations, absurdities and bizarre recombinations woven into the dream content (1978).

Different cultures have different beliefs about dreams. In Western society dreams are mostly not taken seriously and are separate from the real world. They are seem as completely imaginary. Conversely, in several non-western cultures, dreams are taken as valuable sources of information about oneself, the future, or the spiritual world. They view dreams as just as important as the waking world. Dream recall is much more prevalent in non-western societies where dreams taken seriously, whereas in Western societies there is less recall.

Most people recall some of their dreams, but the majority of them we do not remember. According to Freud, the reason for this is that our brain wants to repress the dreams because they are disturbing. If we remembered these dreams the next morn

Some common words found in the essay are:
Non-REM Latner, , According Freud, Robert McCarley, Rosalind Cartwright, rem sleep, sleep period, brain waves, awakened stage, rem sleep period, brain waves slower, theories sleep, eyes move, stage 4, people awakened stage, theory sleeping, delta waves, waves slower,
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