Which part of our body goes to sleep first?

Sleep is a brain state so really nothing goes to sleep in your body except for your brain. However your body is in a state of atonia while you are sleeping (during REM sleep). read more

Sleep is a brain state so really nothing goes to sleep in your body except for your brain. However your body is in a state of atonia while you are sleeping (during REM sleep). Atonia means that the motor signals from your brain are cut off from your body essentially paralyzing your body so you can't move around while you are sleeping. read more

A lot happens in your body while you sleep. When you get your ZZZs, you cycle between REM and non-REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. During REM sleep, your eyes move quickly in different directions. That doesn't happen during non-REM sleep. First comes non-REM sleep, followed by a shorter period of REM sleep, and then the cycle starts over again. Dreams typically happen during REM sleep. read more

"Most of our deep sleep happens in the first half of our night, most of our REM sleep happens in the second half of the night," Gehrman says. And like deep sleep, we spend about 20 percent of the night in REM. read more