I did some more research and I found yet another contradiction. Does anyone have a real firm grasp of how sleep works? Everyone says something different. I want my own EEG machine so I can just see for myself.

Here’s the deal:
Most research says that the stages of sleep are NREM 1, NREM 2, NREM 3, NREM 4, NREM 3, NREM 2, REM -> repeat.

However, I just found a very recent publication, which says that there is a very short slipping into REM right away, then sleep progresses all the way to deep sleep and back to NREM 1 before it returns to REM. This model makes much more sense when considering the ease of waking up during each phase–REM being the easiest and progressively getting more difficult down to NREM 4.

From “Complete Home Medical Guide” © Dorling Kindersley 2004

This would explain why everyone seems to agree that the most vivid dreams happen in REM. Since, I always fall asleep dreaming, it would make sense that there is at least a short phase of REM right away.

And now that I’m looking for it, here is another resource with the same claim — and another.