What Causes ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ During Sleep?

Imagine you're playing a game where your eyes need to move super fast, like when you're trying to catch a ball that's flying in the air. During rapid eye movement sleep, your eyes do this same kind of quick movement while you're dreaming. This happens because your brain is working hard to process all the things you imagined or saw in your dreams.

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Examples

Your eyes move rapidly when you're dreaming about chasing a cat through the house.
You wake up with your eyes fluttering quickly, even though you were asleep for hours.
Your friend’s eyes are moving back and forth while they’re fast asleep, like they’re watching a movie.

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Categories: Health · sleep,dreams,neuroscience