In today’s hectic and competitive world many people have relegated little priority to getting a good night’s sleep – believing that using every waking moment to work or learn is far more productive and important. The problem with that philosophy is that you are not giving your body enough time to rest and heal because shorter hours of sleep means a lesser quality of sleep. It is important not only to fall asleep easily, but to maintain sleep long enough (7-8 hours) so that you can reach that all important part of sleep known as REM. During the night we cycle through 5 stages of sleep with each cycle lasting about 90 minutes. We need to sleep long enough to go through these cycles 4-6 times a night because, with each cycle the REM portion gets longer and, it is during that portion of sleep, that we have our deepest and most restful sleep and when our body is able to repair and heal itself which is so important to maintaining a strong immune system. REM sleep is also associated with dreaming because it is marked by intense brain activity. That’s how you can tell if you achieve REM sleep and have therefore slept sufficient hours. During REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep breathing is more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes move in different directions and muscles become temporarily paralyzed. It is believed that during this final stage the regions of the brain used for thinking, learning (banking the day’s memories) and organizing information are stimulated (like when a computer is re-booted). If you cannot sleep without constantly waking then you are not getting good sleep and you feel it in the morning and all during your day. It’s more important to sleep than to stay up late studying or preparing for a business meeting.Everything should be given its proper time so that you can function at your peak but also maintain a balance in you life.  Read more about good sleep hygiene and how to correct sleep problems at: http://www.TheSleepGenie.com