Eli5: What happens in your body when you fall asleep?
In: Biology
Sleep is an active process. Your brain goes throughs different levels of activity while you are asleep. Memories are reprocessed and neurons are programmed. In programming the neurons and your muscle memory the brain is still sending the signal to your muscles as if you were awake. To prevent you moving around in your sleep, despite the signals being sent by your brain, Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine are used during your sleep to inhibit your muscles. Where this mechanism fails you get sleepwalking – where you are asleep, dreaming, but you’re walking around because your muscles are no longer being inhibited or sleep paralysis – where you are partially awake, but still dreaming and your muscles are still inhibited.
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