Question About Sleep Brainwaves
- Jessica: Describe the brainwave transitions and typical night sleep. So, basically do brain waves get longer or shorter as we sleep?
- Me: For the most part, brainwaves get longer the deeper we get. When you fall asleep, you start in Alpha, also known as the "twilight state". Alpha cycles at about 12 cycles per second. During the next hour, you cross Theta and finally drop into a Delta state which is between 1 and 4 cycles per second. Delta waves are slower (and therefor longer) than Alpha or Theta waves. During REM sleep, you will cycle up to Theta, which engages the visual centers of your brain. At other points of the sleep cycle, you will have Beta sleep spindles which are relatively short waves - they are very fast compared to Delta, Theta or Alpha. So... a typical night of sleep is dynamic and has a wide range of brainwave frequencies, but the dominant frequencies are longer, slower brainwaves.
Source: Yahoo!
