Enchanted City Sleep Study

November 8th, 2024

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This week, we took part in the “Enchanted City Sleeping Activity.” We began by discussing the different stages of sleep, which are divided into four different stages.

The first stage lasts up to 10 minutes and is characterized by a transition from wakefulness to sleep. During this stage, you may experience head bobbing, muscle relaxation and twitching, a decrease in pulse and breathing, and changes in brain activity, with theta waves beginning to appear. If you’re awakened during this phase, you might feel like you never actually fell asleep.

The second stage lasts between 10 and 25 minutes. During this phase, your eyes may start to roll from side to side, sleep spindles appear, and your body temperature begins to drop as you move toward deeper sleep.

The third stage, lasting from 20 to 40 minutes, is the deepest stage of sleep. Delta waves emerge, and this is when sleepwalking, sleep talking, and some dreaming may occur. It can be difficult to wake someone in this stage, and it is the most restorative part of the sleep cycle.

Finally, the fourth stage is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which can last anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes. During this stage, your eyes move rapidly from side to side, brain activity resembles the awake state, and your pulse, breathing, and body temperature become similar to when you're awake. Most dreaming happens during REM sleep, and the muscles in your arms and legs become temporarily paralyzed to prevent you from physically acting out your dreams. If you’re awakened during this stage, you may feel groggy and disoriented.

During the sleep study experience, I was able to fall asleep. The only parts I clearly remember are the beginning of the story, where we were read, “On a cloud asleep, dark, comfy, and we ended up falling off.” I kept trying to get comfortable, and once I finally did, I fell asleep, remembering something about "opening a door with all events from our life." Afterward, we were asked to recall everything we heard while trying to fall asleep. The last thing I distinctly remember hearing was the words "Madame President." When I told Mrs. McCleery about it, she said she hadn’t mentioned those words, which left me confused about where that memory came from. Overall, I didn’t remember much of the reading, so I’m guessing I was likely in the second stage of sleep by that point.