From what I’ve heard/read about sleep and its stages it seems pretty clear that both the stages (and their sub-stages) have their own significance when it comes to replenishing, healing and growing the body and mind. REM sleep seems more for the brain, creativity etc. while NREM sleep seems more for the body, hormonal balancing and healing muscle tissue.
If the 2 sleep stages deal with different parts of the body, why can’t we save time and have both of them at the same time? If not all, maybe some components of both of the stages could have overlapped if Mother Nature wanted through millions if not billions of years of evolution. There must be a strong reason why they’re separated as is. Can you explain why?
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First, the brain acts differently during REM and NREM sleep cycles, so it would be physically impossible to combine the two. Second, you don’t want to rush recovery, because then it doesn’t work as well. The sleep cycles are the way they are because that is how the body works best.
Because it evolved a long time ago this way and there hasn’t been a selection pressure to change it. It’s as simple as that.
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