Does R.E.M Change with Change in Sleep Schedule?

Hi Friends,
I have found my R.E.M period to be after 3 hrs of my sleep, i.e, if i sleep at 12:00 i will get dreams around 3:00. My question is whether R.E.M period is variable to sleep, does it change according to sleep or is it constant. Even if i sleep at 1:00 or 2:00, is my R.E.M period still at 3:00?

your REM period usually hits after the same >amount< of time after you fall asleep so yes, if you go to bed one hour later, your REM should also shift one hour later.

BUT!!.. there are a lot of variables.
some believe (and have tested) that it is important to keep a circadian rhythm. in other words, there may be “good” schedules for LDing/REM and “bad” schedules (this is the theory of our fellow LDer OmkAR, not to say that his thoughts are mine!). i have felt these effects as well, and he constantly talks about it. the thing is, if you’re in a good schedule, you theoretically get more REM, or maybe it’s just “better quality” REM, or you’re more lucid in it (it’s his theory, so i find it hard to explain simply).

there are also other cases. for example, if you haven’t slept well/enough for several days, you will have a REM rebound. then it is likely that you will drop straight into REM, just as you fall asleep. this is why a lot of people who barely sleep 4 hours a night can WILD at will (don’t consider this healthy for your body though).

so as you can see, REM isn’t all that simple. it’s also very varying, depending on people. different people have REM at different times. it’s hard to predict. for example, i have surely had REM just 1 hour after i fell asleep, but most of the time i will have it some 5 hours after i fall asleep. i really don’t know why.

i guess a good advice to you is, if you want to find out for sure when your REM hits (and have the ability to do this), get some lucid dreaming/REM software or some apps and equipment that can register your REM. i have known a few people here who did that are found out their REM patterns. if you want to ask them where/how to get this stuff i can give you their usernames or something.

Just as ava said, REM is constant according to the amount of time you’ve slept, providing your sleep schedule is healthy.

From my experience I know, that if I sleep extremely little some days, the sleep cycles get messed up for that day.
The body needs to sleep as much as it is normally used to. It means that if you sleep for 9 hours each day, and suddenly one day you decide to wake up after 3 hours, you will certainly be tired during that day, unless you take naps frequently.
Now if talking about REM cycle frequency, I would say that if you sleep very little, and then take naps, your sleep will mostly consist of REM (naps consist of mostly REM sleep anyways). The problem here is that REM sleep doesn’t regenerate our lost body energy as well as NREM sleep does. So if you decide to wake up extremely early, you can assure yourself that it’s gonna be a bad day, even though you may have the chance to get lots of LD’s.

Then what about waking up in the middle of the night to do WILD before R.E.M period? If we wake up in middle of the night, wont R.E.M period be affected?

actually, Paulius put it in words much better than i did (Lithuanians ftw! :crazy: )

WBTB works differently. it’s supposed to give you awareness right before REM hits, so you enter it more aware, thus being able to LD with greater chances.
i am not a big fan of WBTB though. it has never worked for me and i only lost sleep. one should only try WBTB if he has no trouble falling asleep quickly. if you’re prone to insomnia, you’d just be asking trouble.

now if you do wake up in your REM slot, you can use it for DEILD, otherwise known as chaining. you do feel it when you wake up just out of REM - it will have been a dream you just woke up from and you can feel a certain lightness. that way it’s easier to dive back into the dream, being aware. it’s not quite WBTB, but it’s a little similar, so i decided to mention it for you.

No, it will not be affected just because you woke up briefly.