No REM sleep?!
Question: What possibly happens to people when they don't get any REM sleep?
I know it's kinda critical for infants, but what happenes to adults?
Answers: What possibly happens to people when they don't get any REM sleep?
I know it's kinda critical for infants, but what happenes to adults?
It is thought that REM sleep is critical for "recharging and regenerating" as it were. If an adult does not get at least 2 full cycles (about 8 1/2 hours) consequences occur, they are those which people associate with only a couple hours of sleep (being cranky, gain in weight, etc). Then again if the lack of sleep persists it can bring about more detrimental consequences up to death.
They would become very forgetful and disoriented. REM sleep is the time when the brain sorts through the days events, making connections and filing away learned information for later retrieval. It also is when it cleans out unneeded info, so there is more room to store the newer, more necessary items. It is when scenarios are acted out by the mind, when it tries to account for things it does not understand. But not going through this stage, the brain does not know what to do in regards to behavior or information. I would think it would be detrimental. Part of the reason that insomniacs are barely functional.
They become pschyotic and eventually die.