While it’s well understood that getting enough sleep is vital to feeling your best, the importance of REM sleep, in particular, is often overlooked. REM is a time where your brain consolidates memories, improves synapses so you can learn and retain information, and getting enough time in this stage of sleep is associated with prolonged lifespan.

Do you toss and turn while trying to fall asleep at night? Wake up in the middle of the night unable to fall back asleep? If you do, you're not alone. In fact, around 60% of the adult population in the United States struggles with getting a good night's sleep[*].

Everybody's sleep dilemma may look a little different, but the root of most of the sleep issues is too much stress. A brain that can't relax keeps you wired for activity, restlessness, and an unending barrage of thoughts and worries.

And while many people power through their life with insufficient sleep, the long-term effects of sleep deficits can cause serious imbalances.

In this article, we'll discuss the importance of sleep, why you have a hard time getting enough of it, and how you can train your brain to shut down at night so you can once again get some much-needed rest.

The Problem With Sleep Deficits

Intuitively, it's easy to understand why getting enough sleep is so important. Waking up after a restless night of sleep you feel drained, fatigued, confused, and often like a shell of who you really are.

Physiologically, sleep is crucial for several processes in your body, including[*][*]:

Growth -- When you sleep, your body releases growth hormone and increases the production of proteins needed for cell growth and damage repair.

Nervous system function -- Getting enough sleep is vital for the function of your nerve cells. During sleep, nerve cells repair themselves, and certain connections in your brain turn on, strengthening your ability to think and learn.

Immunity -- Sleep is an essential part of maintaining and regulating an active immune system. When you don't get enough sleep you are much more susceptible to infection and other types of immune assaults.

For people with insomnia, the consequences can become very serious. Impaired work performance, depression, anxiety, inability to concentrate, poor memory, and weakened immunity are all common side effects of chronic sleep deficits[*].

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Importance of REM Sleep

There are two phases of sleep; REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Non-REM sleep is a deeper sleep marked by a slowing down of your body. Eye movements, muscle activity, and heart rate all slow down.

REM sleep is marked by an increase in activity in your brain, along with muscle relaxation. This is the stage of sleep that allows for dreaming. You typically enter REM sleep about an hour and a half after falling asleep and stay here for periods of about 10 minutes on and off.

During REM sleep, you experience rapid eye movements -- which is why it's called R-E-M. You also have an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.

While deep sleep (non-REM) is essential for repairing and maintaining tissues, REM offers its own unique benefits.

One of the most interesting functions of REM sleep is its impact on learning and memory. Research shows that while you're in REM, your brain upregulates itself by pruning away old connections and assisting in maintaining and forming new synapses for learned behavior[*].

Many scientists believe that during REM sleep, your brain consolidates memories, which also impacts the retention of what you learn. Interestingly, there also seems to be a connection between creativity and REM, although more research needs to be conducted to understand the mechanism[*].

Studies also indicate that deprivation of REM sleep, in particular, is associated with shortened lifespan[*].

When you are missing out on REM sleep, it can impact your social connection as well. For instance, when you're deficient in REM, it can be harder to understand people's facial expressions.

Therefore, getting enough REM sleep is crucial for memory and learning and maintaining a feeling of safety and connection in your environment.

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The Stress and Sleep Connection

So, why is it that so many people are struggling to get enough sleep?

As mentioned previously, most sleep disorders come down to a dysregulated nervous system -- AKA stress.

When your nervous system is in stress mode, it makes it harder for you to rest and relax. You don't feel safe, so parts of your brain that work on your behalf to stay vigilant remain active. This is the sympathetic mode of your autonomic nervous system.

While this ancient mechanism in your nervous system likely saved your ancestors from tiger attacks, today, it just keeps you tossing, turning, and worrying.

To enter a state of sleep, your nervous system has to shift into parasympathetic mode and out of sympathetic activation. In other words, you need to calm down and relax[*].

Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done -- unless you have the right tools to support you.

How Brain Harmony Can Help Regulate Your Sleep

At Brain Harmony, we've found that our unique plan of care is key to helping clients with their sleep issues.

We start with vagal regulation, which accelerates your connection to your parasympathetic nervous system. Your vagus nerve is responsible for parasympathetic activation, so we can enhance the pathways that turn this part of your nervous system on using vagus nerve treatment.

Tools like the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), Alpha-Stim, iLs Focus unit, and Apollo for sleep, ease your system into a state of relaxation.

The Safe and Sound Protocol specifically targets the vagus nerve and sends signals to your mind and body that you are safe. Feeling safe is the number one thing you can do to help your mind relax and let go of its state of vigilance (sympathetic mode).

Alpha-Stim is a device that sends alpha waves directly to your brain. Alpha waves are associated with calm, relaxation, and sleep. In fact, this device is specifically designed to help ease anxiety and promote restful sleep by enhancing serotonin and melatonin production in your brain.

Once your mind and body feel safe, it's time to move into the next phase of care, which is neurological organization.

The reason you're up at night and not sleeping likely isn't due to any real threats in your immediate environment, but a disorganized brain that's been wired for fight or flight. If there is no tiger hunting you down, then why can't you turn off your vigilant brain? You've grown so accustomed to worrying that it's your new normal, your state of homeostasis is to be activated in fear and worry.

This is due to pathways in your brain that have become wired incorrectly, and it's incredibly common.

At Brain Harmony, we use systems like the iLs Focus Unit (integrated listening systems) and Apollo to enhance neurological organization. These tools retrain your brain to come back into balance in a way that offers safety and relaxation. In a way, they help you erase old programming that keeps you stuck in fear and worry and create new pathways which allow for clear thinking and processing of information.

By providing daily input using these devices, we change your dysregulated responses that lead to poor sleep and assist you in reorganizing and upregulating your neural pathways.

Brain Harmony Success Stories

Sleep is an integral part of the picture when it comes to overall health and wellbeing. At Brain Harmony, we see all kinds of neurological issues ranging from Autism to anxiety to insomnia. Regardless of what brings people in, one common issue we see is difficulty sleeping. Luckily, using the tools described above, we have had incredible success in helping people get their much-needed rest so we can help them work on deeper issues that may be presenting. Here are a couple of examples of how Brain Harmony has helped people get back on track with their sleep.

Mark's Brain Harmony Success Story

Mark had suffered from sleep, attention, and mental clarity issues for years. After only a few weeks of therapy working with Brain Harmony, he was able to sleep through the night, stop the use of his sleep and attention deficit medication, and regain the energy and mental clarity he needed to stay sharp through his intensive work week. He even built stronger connections with his family. Click below to see more of Mark’s story.

"Getting a good night's sleep is everything to me, so it has changed my life that way. My energy is higher than if I was on caffeine, my mental clarity is much much more improved, and I can only chalk it up to this treatment that I have been on with you in the last couple of weeks. It's wild."

Natalia's Brain Harmony Success Story

Natalia is on the severe end of the autism spectrum, suffering from high general and separation anxiety, communication issues, sleep problems, and more. Her mother was having her see a speech and occupational therapist, but she eventually hit a plateau and was making no progress. After using Brain Harmony for a month, Natalia began having incredible improvements, becoming more independent, sleeping through the night, communicating clear thoughts, and having considerably less overall anxiety. Click below to see more of Natalia’s story.

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"I used it for just a month or so, but I see stuff in my daughter I have never seen. The anxiety disappeared, the sleeping got better. She's more calm. She said, "Mommy you go to the store, I'll stay with Dad." She started to learn from other kids. She started to learn from her environment. She's starting to listen more. Some people told me that she will reach a cap and will never be able to be conversational. My daughter now goes to the park and talks to the kids."

Can Brain Harmony Help You?

If you're like one of the many people that have been struggling with sleep, Brain Harmony may be the answer to your sleepless nights. Contact us today for a Free Consultation to find out if Brain Harmony is a good fit for you or your loved one.