If somebody looks at you when you are dreaming, they will see your eyelids flicker every so often when your eyes move side to side. Scientists will call this Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep . Some people believe that when you are in REM sleep your eyes move so quickly that you remember the dream better and see more of the details in the dream. On an average night, somebody will have four or five REM sleep periods. An REM sleep period can range from 5 to 45 minutes long. The REM sleep stage is a very active stage of sleep. REM periods are broken into pieces because of “quiet parts” of sleep, in which you don’t dream in. Your brain is extremely active when you dream, which is shown unclearly by rapid movements in your eyes. Babies spend 80 percent of their dream time in REM sleep. When they are one year old, they spend an average 35 percent of their dream time in REM sleep time. If you are woken up during REM sleep, you will immediately remember your dream. Many studies say that REM sleep is very important for a good nights sleep. People who were not allowed to enter REM sleep due to being awakened have had memory problems . They are also very grumpy and unable to concentrate on anything when they wake up, even if they slept for the same amount of time that they usually sleep. Every night you need a good amount of mixture between REM sleep and Non-REM sleep. If somebody was watching you during REM sleep, you would be lying perfectly still except for your eyeballs. Your eyeballs would be racing around trying to picture the dream. Everyone’s brain is more active during REM sleep than in any other stage in sleep. When your muscles are paralyzed during a dream, your muscles that move your eye are the only muscles not paralyzed.

Wesley drew this picture.