• Question: Do you blink when you are asleep and if so can you estimate how many times in 12 hours.

    Asked by Aaron H to Greg, Jen, Laura, Mobeen, Paul on 8 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Paul O'Mahoney

      Paul O'Mahoney answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I have never tried to count, usually too busy sleeping!

      Your eyes are very active when you are sleeping, but I am not sure if you actually blink in your sleep or not.

    • Photo: Laura Haworth

      Laura Haworth answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I don’t think we blink as such when we are asleep as our eyes are closed but our eyelids flicker rapidly during REM sleep.

    • Photo: Greg Melia

      Greg Melia answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      ^ What she said! REM stands for “Rapid Eye Movement” and you go through four or five cycles of it during a full night’s sleep. The longest period of REM is just before you wake up, and is when you have most of your dreams – which is why you often feel like you’ve woken up in the middle of a dream: because you literally have done just that.

    • Photo: Jen Lowe

      Jen Lowe answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      I don’t think so. When I watch my kids sleep, you can sometimes see the eyes moving, but the eyelids stay shut.

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