OK, now that we’ve convinced you to focus on your sleep, here are some tips to help you do just that.īy paying close attention to your daily routine, you can identify the causes of your poor sleep and work to build more positive habits. That gives your body time to complete multiple sleep cycles with several hours of deep sleep in the mix. You can’t reach deep sleep without experiencing the lighter stages first, which is why doctors recommend at least 7 uninterrupted hours of shut-eye per night. Babies are in REM for about half the total time they’re asleep, while adults spend 20 to 25 percent of sleeping time in REM (about 2 hours of an 8-hour night). Interestingly, babies and children spend more time in REM sleep than adults do. Your body typically goes into REM sleep about 90 minutes after you fall asleep, and it can last for up to an hour. Your brain actually becomes more active during REM sleep, and many people have vivid dreams in this stage. In this super deep phase of sleep, your muscles are paralyzed while your eyes move rapidly behind your eyelids. REM sleep falls into a different category than the other stages because of what’s happening in your body. Here’s where things get really interesting. If you’ve ever slept through your alarm or had a short nap turn into multiple hours, you can probably blame it on deep sleep. Your brain waves slow way down and are less responsive to external noises and interruptions. It’s also known as slow wave sleep or delta sleep because of the brain activity that occurs. This is the level of sleep you need to feel truly refreshed the next morning, and it only happens once you’ve progressed through the first two stages. Stage 3 (N3)īy now, your body has reached the deep sleep stage, where it stays for 20 to 40 minutes.
This lasts for 30 to 60 minutes, and it’s the point at which you may start to experience slow-wave brain activity, which indicates the beginnings of deep and restful sleep. In the second stage, you progress to a deeper and more relaxed sleep. If your phone buzzes or a dog barks outside during this sleep stage, you’re likely to wake up for a minute or two before dozing off again. Your mind relaxes, your breathing slows, and your muscles sometimes twitch. Stage 1 (N1)ĭuring those first 10 minutes when you’re drifting off (after you’ve managed to calm down your brain and forget about tomorrow’s to-do list), your body is transitioning between its waking state and sleeping state. Stages one to three are known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and the fourth stage is called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Your sleep doesn’t get deeper throughout the night but rather moves between deeper and lighter stages (which may explain why you wake up more easily at certain times). You’ll typically pass through all four stages three or four times in several hours. Think of them like levels in a video game - they all build off each other, and you need one to progress to the next. During the night, your body cycles through four stages of sleep.
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