Normal Sleep and FFI
Normal sleep has different stages that together last 90 to 100 minutes:
- REM-sleep when dreams occur.
- Non REM Stages 1 and 2: Light sleep NREM-sleep
- Non REM Stages 3 and 4: Deep slow wave sleep
REM is most important for health, followed by stage 2. Most reviving and repairing processes of the body are believed to happen during these two stages. FFI patients cannot go past stage 1 and thus their brains are not getting the rest they need to revive. Prolonged REM-sleep deprivation is the eventual cause of death.
Read more about this topic: Fatal Familial Insomnia
Famous quotes containing the words normal and/or sleep:
“To try to control a nine-month-old’s clinginess by forcing him away is a mistake, because it counteracts a normal part of the child’s development. To think that the child is clinging to you because he is spoiled is nonsense. Clinginess is not a discipline issue, at least not in the sense of correcting a wrongdoing.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)
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Laurel is green for a season, and love is sweet for a day;
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Sleep, shall we sleep after all? for the world is not sweet in the
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For the old faiths loosen and fall, the new years ruin and rend.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)